Hybrid math techniques enrich Year 6 learning

MYP and Personal Project Coordinator Emilia Martin is passionate about math and knows the importance of keeping students engaged and interested to improve overall academic success in the classroom.

Martin approached the Principal’s Innovation Fund in 2018 to source an iPad and access several subscription technologies so she could create and curate instructional math videos that students could watch at home ahead of in-class lessons. These videos would enable students to come to class more prepared and better able to ask targeted questions, leading to more productive classroom experiences and better retention of material. These would also make it possible for her students to focus on projects and creative problems in the classroom, rather than just listening to long stretches of instruction.

Says Martin, “The videos would explain a concept, such as the volume and area of 3-D shapes. I used PlayPosit to check engagement with video content and used mini quizzes to determine whether students understood the video content. This allowed me to tailor the turbo lesson [a more condensed lesson] to the needs of my students.”

As part of the geometry unit that school year, her students worked with UCC’s blueprints of the Prep school to redesign physical areas they thought would benefit from an upgrade. Martin wanted to create a project that included all the learning they’d done in their geometry class and put it into a practical context. “It was really interesting to see how students became passionate about using mathematics and watching videos at home and coming to school ready to work.”

A few years after the project’s inception, the pandemic caused significant and sustained disruptions to school programs and the way students and educators interact. Says Martin, “COVID showed us that hybrid learning can be used at any grade level. I was thankful that the PIF pushed me to consider a hybrid approach to learning because it readied the Prep math department for the reality of virtual learning.” 

Like other Principal’s Innovation Fund projects, Martin’s hybrid learning program has evolved to embrace other projects over time. In 2021–2022, says Martin, “we investigated the cost/living space of one-bedroom apartments in many urban centres worldwide in response to the housing crisis in Toronto. The inquiry was a student-driven response to things they heard on the news. The pedagogical approaches of my PIF were the leading design principles in iterations of our curriculum.”

Martin’s quest to incorporate more hybrid learning elements into UCC’s math curricula for all Year 6 to Year 10 courses has helped nudge the department to take advantage of available mechanisms and programs, such as Google Tools. Half a decade later, her efforts continue to help streamline resources at the school and keep students engaged in, interested in and excited about mathematics.