Hello and welcome back to the Brighter Thinking Podcast from Cambridge University Press. In this episode, we look at mental fluency in maths and preparing students non-calculator questions.
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Brighter Thinking Pod – Ep 41: Mental Fluency in Maths
In this episode, we discuss:
- What is ‘mental fluency’? If we asked mathematics teachers around the world, what would they say?
- How is mental fluency different from memorising and recall?
- Why is mental fluency important in maths?
- What are the obstacles to mental fluency, how can we overcome them?
- How do teachers support students while preparing for non-calculator questions in Singapore and the UK?
- What practical strategies are there to help students improve their mental fluency?
- How can we use technology to improve mental fluency?
- How can our resources – Cambridge IGCSE International and Additional Mathematics books – address mental mathematics?
Show notes
National Centre for the Excellence in Teaching of Mathematics
Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding – Richard Skemp
Carol Dweck – Developing a Growth Mindset
Cambridge IGCSE International Mathematics
Cambridge IGCSE and O Level Additional Mathematics
Jasmine’s gradient and tangent example:
Host and guests
Arifah Khan – host
Arifah is the Commissioning Editor for Mathematics titles at Cambridge University Press.
Jasmine Teo
Jasmine Teo graduated with a Master of Science, specialising in Mathematics for Educators. She has over two decades of teaching experience, both in public as well as international schools in Singapore. A creative teacher, she likes to experiment with digital tools and inquiry in her teaching. She lives to learn and loves exploring new ideas in teaching.
Jasmine recently wrote a blog post on how to teach co-ordinate geometry of circles using investigation and guided inquiry.
Nick Asker
Nick is an independent Mathematics Advisor. He started teaching mathematics in 1982 and has taught in a variety of settings including secondary schools and all-age special schools. Nick regularly leads workgroups for the National Centre for the Excellence in Teaching of Mathematics, and is a tutor on their PD lead programme. Nick has also led teacher education programmes in Africa and the Middle East.
Nick recently wrote a blog post on explaining brackets with a link to multiplication.
Thanks for listening
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