You are invited to contribute to this collected wisdom of practice.
Classroom experiences from Crossways Lutheran School Ceduna, South Australia. It was enthusiastically repeated by the Queensland teachers who went a step further by hiring an Aboriginal artist to help the students develop their drawings.

The comments have been grouped into sub-categories for ease of presentation.

The logo of the Mathematics Task Centre (and its antecedent, the Mathematics Task Centre Project) came from the work of two Indigenous students in the Queensland project who journeyed where no one had gone before in the solution of the Sphinx task. Make It Count is for educators working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners in mathematics education. Nicholas Dale

The following selection of comments from the teachers is representative of the comments made which were categorised under ‘teaching of mathematics’. Numbers were often used on message sticks to invite neighbouring clans to events. Email: 11 December 2006

Eight clusters of schools across regional and urban Australia participated in the project. Make It Count is about a way of thinking – and a way of doing.. A story of success with the Aboriginal Task Kit from a school in central Sydney with a significant Aboriginal student population. Australian Aboriginal one-hand counting system. While this resource looks at an approach to mathematics through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective, it will benefit the teacher and students in any classroom. This resource supports teachers to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the mathematics curriculum. 'Indigenous ownership' indicated by student-drawn borders added to the Aboriginal Kit cards is not present in mainstream tasks, however, all the other teaching craft features illustrated in the links below will support successful use of these tasks with Indigenous Students. The Task Centre Kit for Aboriginal Students supported Indigenous learners across the country until December 2011 when it was discontinued. Ruth Classroom experiences from Fregon Anangu School in the far northwest of South Australia as recorded in Teacher Scrapbooks.

Their work over more than twelve months also developed new tasks that were added to the mainstream kit.

Dominic Killalea The Twelve Days of Christmas, Luke Swan & Dylan Gow-Lapham

Community, education and business working together to improve maths outcomes of Indigenous learners.

Erin Sells

These stories – from the clusters, from educators, Aboriginal students, leaders and parents – tell their journeys, challenges, successes and will inspire educators.They are linked to the Cluster Findings and are also downloadable (PDF).

Although the Aboriginal Kit cards are no longer available, the same investigations can be accessed through mainstream tasks. / 'Indigenous ownership' indicated by student-drawn borders added to the Aboriginal Kit cards is not present in mainstream tasks, however, all the other teaching craft features illustrated in the links below will support successful use of these tasks with Indigenous Students. Auntie Joy from Tasmania, who worked as an assistant teacher in some INISSS classrooms, tells the story from her point of view. Classroom experiences from Ernabella Anangu School, South Australia.

A Significant Episode is an event, or a small series of linked events, that has impacted on educators professionally and has helped develop or change the way they teach and think about teaching. The kids at Moonah wanted to send you some more of their work. Ruth Lansdell Changes in the participant, colleagues and children at Winkie Primary School, Riverland, South Australia as a result of a six day professional development program. See more ideas about Aboriginal, Indigenous education, Mathematics. It is a teaching and learning resource, and a professional learning tool.

Meet Small Number: We engage Aboriginal learners in math and science through the use of First Nations imagery and storytelling. From 1996 this kit was widely used across Australia and was also been used to support the learning of Native American students in the United States. A teacher in a remote Northern Territory school shows that a good task is the tip of an iceberg. For today’s educators: The Math Catcher Outreach Program provides you with the opportunity to explore ways to demystify mathematics for your students through storytelling and hands-on activities. Although the Aboriginal Kit cards are no longer available, the same investigations can be accessed through mainstream tasks. (Story of the Logo). Working Mathematically with Infants ...

Sphinx Album.

Dominic Killalea A story of success with the Aboriginal Task Kit from a school in central Sydney with a significant Aboriginal student population.

Best wishes, Several were found to be very useful and are available for you to use. Rachel Boyce The Geckos website provides an explanation of how to use the “one hand” number system. INISSS: An Elder's View

The reports below indicate that even though her students may be '...the most disadvantaged kids I have worked with', Ruth has been able to share her love of numbers and excite them to begin '...thinking mathematically'. Aboriginal educators take First Steps Getting ready in numeracy Hands on activities I Hands on activities II Confidence grows How I look at maths Best pedagogy I barely had to say a word!

Karen Palmer For four years from August 1998, the Aboriginal Education Unit, Tasmania, developed an on-going professional development program based around the Task Centre Kit for Indigenous Students. The first person to talk about connecting mathematics with Aboriginal knowledge was Dr M Yunupiŋu, who was the first Yolŋu principal at Yirrkala School, North East Arnhem land and more well known as the lead singer of the band Yothu Yindi. Throughout this period many teachers contributed to the wisdom that remains available in this section of Mathematics Centre. As principal, Dr Yunupiŋu set a vision that all students will have an education in both Yolŋu and Western Knowledge. I hope you enjoy these and perhaps find them useful.

Feb 7, 2014 - Explore persson3's board "Aboriginal Mathematics ", followed by 104 people on Pinterest. Home and presentation of teaching and learning activities. Interesting Maths Problems, Luke Swan, Braedyn James, Naleea Fewkes-Broadby (PDF file). The resources developed by Make It Count will help schools working at the intersection of Indigenous education and mathematics education. Resources include tools for collecting data, units of learning designed by our creative and innovative educators, and professional reading. Patterns With Nines, Tim Butterworth They give insights into creative and innovative ways of teaching mathematics that engages Indigenous - and non-Indigenous - learners.

Their work will continue to support Indigenous students to successfully learn mathematics. This traditional Aboriginal counting system uses a base five or “one hand” number system.

Dear Doug, Interesting Maths Problems, Luke Swan, Braedyn James, Naleea Fewkes-Broadby (PDF file) Karen Palmer A teacher in a remote Northern Territory school shows that a good task is the tip of an iceberg.

After a long teaching career, Ruth is sharing her experience as a tutor in the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) in Tasmania.

We talked about what to send and then they told me what to write.

The Make it Count project developed and used a range of resources to help various aspects of the work in the schools and clusters.

These became known as 'tools'. Resources. The stunning improvements in mathematics and literacy which developed for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike testify to the power of long-term PD programs with the same group of teachers. These units of learning have been designed by teachers and Aboriginal educators (in schools with Aboriginal education officers).

Make It Count is an initiative that has developed evidence based, responsive mathematics pedagogies and resources to improve the learning outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners across Australia.