Minister Attends Math Workshop

Education Minister Jane Purves will join 37 teachers today, Aug. 13, in a workshop on how to use new math teaching resources.

The workshop is one of four two-day math institutes in a full week of learning opportunities offered to teachers by the Department of Education each summer. The math institutes aim to help Primary to Grade 9 teachers develop plans for teaching all the learning outcomes -- things students should know and be able to do -- of the provincial math curriculum.

"Teachers have told us that they want these kinds of resources and professional development so they can do their jobs even better," said Ms. Purves. "We're happy to help so that our students have a solid foundation of math skills."

National and provincial testing results have shown that Nova Scotia students need improvement in their math skills. The Department of Education is helping with its Math Matters strategy.

The strategy includes 10 new teaching resources -- one for each grade from Primary to Grade 9 -- to accompany existing curriculum guides. Participants in the math workshop are learning how to use the new resources to develop yearly, unit and lesson plans.

"Teachers sometimes find it hard to teach all the learning outcomes of the math curriculum as thoroughly as they'd like," said Donna Gorman, the department's math consultant who is facilitating the workshop. "These planning tools and professional development workshops were designed by teachers for teachers to help them build on the math skills their students gained in the previous grade and teach them all the necessary skills for the next."

The math institutes are taking place at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro. Other summer institutes on literacy, science and workplace health and safety are also being offered by the department this week at the same location.