My name is Judy Hartnett. I am a private mathematics education consultant. I work with teachers and schools to improve Maths learning outcomes for students.
I am really interested in mathematical thinking and learning through Inquiry. I would love for all students in schools (and people in the world beyond school) to see Maths as a valuable tool and not something to despise or be fearful of.
I have been working in the area of Mathematics Education for over 20 years now and through many and varied opportunities to work with teachers, other maths educators and probably thousands of students I have developed ideas of how we can make maths in schools better for teachers and students.
I am based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
My husband, Russell, daughter Kelsey and I compete in the Australian Off Road Championship in Super 1650 class. We were Australian champions in our class in 2013 and State Champions in our class quite a few times. I play, coach and umpire hockey and have played flute and piccolo in a community concert band (until it clashed with hockey training).
Background
I wasn’t particularly good at maths when I was at school but I remember that I didn’t dislike it as much as some of my friends did. My Year 8 Maths teacher challenged us by asking “Why are man-hole covers round?” He didn’t tell us, we had to think it through. I remember loving the challenge. It took us a couple of weeks but we worked out it was because a circle is the same width across at every point so the cover can’t fall in on anyone below. As a teacher I want to provide challenges like these to get students thinking. Mathematical inquiries can achieve this as can a teaching focus on strategies for computation rather than procedural algorithms.
Experience
- Classroom teacher (Education Qld)
- Education Adviser (Education Qld)
- Small School Principal
- Education Officer – Mathematics / Numeracy (Brisbane Catholic Education)
- Lecturer (Qld University of Technology)
- Private Mathematics Education Consultant
Qualifications
- Diploma of Teaching (primary)
- Graduate Diploma of Computer Education
- Master of Education (Maths Education)
- Doctor of Education
Personal Education Philosophy
I believe that all students can learn. The role of a teacher is to provide opportunities that will challenge students to develop understandings about the way the world works. A quote that resonates with me is “The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see” Alexanrda K. Trenfor. In Mathematics I believe a positive attitude and confidence to have a go are important traits to develop in students. Unfortunately Maths is often seen as sets of procedures and rules to remember. If you can’t remember then you are no good at maths. My desire is to change this in students and the wider community to a belief that success in maths is achievable and the subject is interesting and valuable for all.
Publications
Academic Publications:
- Professional growth through working together: a study of reciprocal benefits for teacher and education advisor through classroom based professional development. (EdD thesis, 2011) http://eprints.qut.edu.au/48045/
- Categorisation of Mental Computation Strategies to Support Teaching and to Encourage Classroom Dialogue (Conference paper, Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, 2007) http://www.merga.net.au/documents/RP292007.pdf
- Capturing Students’ Thinking about Strategies used to Solve Mental Computations by Giving Students Access to a Pedagogical Framework (Conference paper, Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, 2008) http://www.merga.net.au/documents/RP272008.pdf
- Why do we Still Teach Traditional Vertical Algorithms? Prime Vol 35 (1). 2020. Melbourne: Mathematics Association of Victoria
- Simplifying and Sorting Computation Strategies (Addition and Subtraction) Prime Vol 35 (3) 2020. Melbourne: Mathematics Association of Victoria
- Simplifying and Sorting Computation Strategies (Multiplication and Division). Prime Vol 35 (4) 2020. Melbourne: Mathematics Association of Victoria
Teacher resources:
- Learning Through Doing: A whole school program (in development). Lessons, Resources, Teacher Videos, regular webinars. http://www.learningthroughdoing.com.au
- Thinking Caps: Using an inquiry approach to foster mathematical thinking (published by Origo Education) http://www.origoeducation.com/thinking-caps/
- Three-in-a-row games: Number and Computation. A book of Black-Line Masters for games that practise number concepts and computation strategies
- Three-in-a-row games. Class sets of Three-in-a-row games made up and ready for classroom use.
- Computation posters. A set of posters detailing strategies for computation
- Black-line masters. Classroom basics e.g. ten frames, part-part-total boards