

Strength In Numbers
Allan Dougan
The fascinating world of mathematics education. We explore innovative teaching pedagogies, classroom success stories, and unravel the mysteries behind those 'Aha!' moments.
Whether you're a maths enthusiast or just looking to improve your teaching skills in mathematics, this podcast brought to you by AAMT is your go-to resource for engaging, sometimes light-hearted, and informative discussions on all things maths education related!
Whether you're a maths enthusiast or just looking to improve your teaching skills in mathematics, this podcast brought to you by AAMT is your go-to resource for engaging, sometimes light-hearted, and informative discussions on all things maths education related!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 9, 2025 • 29min
Pedagogy in Mathematics: What You Can Find in The AAMT’s Recent Position Paper.
The AAMT’s position paper “Pedagogy in Mathematics,” giving teachers back their voice, maintaining appropriate challenge, and how to get the most value from the paper. Professor of mathematics education and AAMT’s board chair, Catherine Attard, joins Strength in Numbers to discuss the recently published position paper “Pedagogy in Mathematics,” a framework for action and improvements in your classroom, your school, and your approach, as well as the practices covered by the paper such as purposeful planning, developing mathematical proficiency, and adapting to and supporting all learners. Key Links:Explore the Pedagogy in Mathematics paper here:https://aamt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AAMT-Pedagogy-in-Mathematics.pdf And find helpful resources and research in the accompanying resource list:https://go.aamt.edu.au/2025PedagogyReadingList Sponsored by TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at https://www.tutero.com Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast StudioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 3, 2025 • 29min
2024 in Review: A Retrospective on a Busy Year and Looking to the Future of the AAMT, with Denise Halliday
AAMT’s study tour to the NCTM conference, ICME 15, the Focus on Maths grant program, and the Pedagogy in Mathematics paper. Mathematics Education Specialist at AAMT, Denise Halliday, joins Alan for a retrospective on the AAMT’s busy 2024, including events such as a study tour to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference in Chicago, the National Summit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Education, the Australian Mathematics Education Journal and the Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom journal, professional learning initiatives and opportunities, as well as a look ahead to an exciting 2025. Key Links:Read the Pedagogy in Mathematics paper here:https://aamt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AAMT-Pedagogy-in-Mathematics.pdf International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME 15)https://icme15.org/National Summit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Educationhttps://atsima.com/national-summit-on-indigenous-mathematics-education/ National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (USA)https://www.nctm.org/ Learn how to join your local AAMT affiliated association here:https://aamt.edu.au/about-us/membership/aamt_affiliated_associations/ Sponsored by TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at https://www.tutero.com Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast StudioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 1, 2024 • 30min
Building Critical Thinkers: How Messy Data Creates Analysis
Situating the curriculum in real life to engage students, giving purpose to learning, teaching that real data is never perfect, the value of not having the right answer as a teacher, and much more. Founder of the Australian Data Science Education Institute, author of Raising Heretics, PhD in Computer Science Education, and passionate educator, Dr Linda McIver joins Allan to discuss best practices to grow students into powerful critical thinkers, challengers of orthodoxy, analysts and problem solvers via asking difficult questions, providing real emotional connections to projects, using real, messy data to teach, and more.TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links:Get hundreds of great resources from the Australian Data Science Education Institute:https://adsei.org/ Get Raising Heretics: Teaching Kids to Save the World from your favourite retailer:https://adsei.org/raising-heretics-how-data-science-education-can-change-the-world/ Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast StudioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 24, 2024 • 37min
Your Own AI Teachers’ Aide: Using Tutero to Promote Mathematical Thinking in Your Students.
The power of AI as a teaching aid, how to ethically use AI and ChatGPT as a thinking partner, content generator, and consumer of data. Co-CEO of Tutero, Joey Moshinski, and Education Specialist at AAMT, Denise Halliday join Allan to talk about the benefits, challenges, limitations, and ethics of using AI large language models as a tool to improve the teaching of mathematics, as well as challenges with equity of access, techniques to create prompts for your AI, tailoring common exercises to your classroom with AI, and how AI has more to offer to teachers than to students. Key Links: Sign up for Tutero’s classroom software for free at:https://tutero.com.au And connect with Joey Moshinski on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-moshinsky-551540159 TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at https://www.tutero.com Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin | East Coast StudioSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 18, 2024 • 31min
Show Don’t Tell: Contemplating Mathematical Egotism
The value of mathematical empathy, combatting societal perceptions about mathematics, meeting students where they are in order to understand them, and more. PhD Candidate and author of “Contemplating the Role of Mathematical Egotism”, Rebecca Burtenshaw joins Allan for a conversation on mathematical egotism, Rebecca’s journey from “disillusioned with mathematics” to PhD candidate in maths education, changing student’s relationships with mathematics, focusing more on student perceptions of mathematics, balancing collaboration and guidance, being aware of your own biases as a mathematics teacher, and contemplating what success in mathematics really means.TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links: Read Rebecca’s paper on Mathematical Egotism here:https://go.aamt.edu.au/StrengthinNumbersS03E06 Burtenshaw, R. (2024). Contemplating the role of mathematical egotism. In T. Evans, O. Marmur, J. Hunter, G. Leach, & J. Jhagroo (Eds.). Proceedings of the 47th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 104–111). PME Or follow her on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-burtenshaw-32b79b191/ Podcast production by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studio https://eastcoaststudio.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 11, 2024 • 31min
Starting Lessons Strong: Engaging Students as Problem Posers
Student engagement, #lessonstarter, engaging students with concrete materials, supporting pre-service and early career teachers, and getting out of your comfort zone. Legendary Alice Springs based teacher, teacher educator, and maths consultant Matt Skoss shares with Allan his keys to student engagement, pedagogy choice, teaching mathematical collaboration, transitioning students from concrete to abstract, cultivating positive dispositions towards learning mathematics, how important it is to join the maths education community and share your personal experiences, and that the only person you can change is yourself, so get out there and try something new.TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links: Follow Matt Skoss on X: https://x.com/matt_skoss Get fantastic inquiry-based lessons through the AAMT’s Maths300 resource: https://aamt.edu.au/teachers/resources/maths-300/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studiohttps://eastcoaststudio.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 4, 2024 • 27min
Statistically Significant: Removing Barriers to Learning Statistics
The accessibility and power of CODAP, finding the right tools to teach statistics, mining for dataset gold, linking students' lived experiences to statistics, and embracing the specificity of statistics. Director of Learning Analytics and Technology at Loreto College, Timothy Bond chats with Allan about teaching statistics to students, his journey from avoiding statistics to loving it, the benefits of using real datasets over artificial ones, avoiding being swamped with data, helping students learn with free software that runs in browser, the tension between computation and interpretation, and how to find authentic, verified data for teaching.TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links: Get in touch with Timothy Bond on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyjbond/ Use CODAP completely free: https://codap.concord.org/for-educators/ Get connected with more great resources at the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studiohttps://eastcoaststudio.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 28, 2024 • 28min
Playfulness in Specialist Mathematics: Excited Students are Productive Students
How playfulness in the classroom can help get through content more quickly, help students communicate difficulties, and motivate them to be more engaged and excited about mathematics. Australian Education Awards 2023’s Rising Star of the Year, Stephanie Thomas, joins Allan to share her unique approach to teaching her Specialist Mathematics and year 11/12 General Mathematics classes. She explains her promising results from creating a playful and excited culture within the classroom, giving students room to explore, inquire, and question, being brave when trying something new, and developing more than just good test results from students.TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links: Contact Stephanie Thomas via email at: sthomas@iggs.qld.edu.au Or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-thomas-293064325/ Learn more about the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studiohttps://eastcoaststudio.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 21, 2024 • 34min
From Being in a Jam to Making It Your Jam: Building Confidence in Maths with Donna McNeight
Reasoning boards, building confidence in teachers and students alike, avoiding pitfalls in pre-assessment, breaking down “right or wrong” thinking, and encouraging productive classroom discussion. Creator of Reasoning Boards, author of articles in both Prime Number and APMC Voluma 28, Donna McNeight joins the season 3 return of Strength in Numbers to help spread confidence in mathematics, effective learning tools, a willingness to try new things, and an understanding of the importance of reassurance and guidance for teachers too.TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links: Connect with Donna McNeight on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-mcneight-610b0458/ Learn more about the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers: https://aamt.edu.au/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studiohttps://eastcoaststudio.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 14, 2024 • 27min
Different Continents, Same Challenges: Learning Lessons from American Mathematics Teachers.
The maths education pedagogy war, the role of questioning, inquiry based teaching, pedagogical paralysis, developing students who appreciate mathematics, and more. President of the American NCTM and 8th grade teacher of over 25 years, Kevin Dykema, and AAMT’s own president and maths education academic, Catherine Attard, join Allan to talk about the challenges universal to mathematics teaching regardless of hemisphere. They explore methods to choose the right pedagogy for the right moment, how there is no single cure-all solution to mathematics teaching, the seven key components of explicit teaching, lessons to learn from other teachers, and how students will show up in class the way they are and as teachers we must meet them there. TuteroTutero is a Melbourne-based Australian education company that empowers maths teachers with innovative AI tools to effortlessly create customised lesson plans, assessments, and activities. You can find them at www.tutero.com Key Links: Connect with Catherine Attard on X: https://x.com/attard_cAnd explore her work at: https://engagingmaths.com/ Get in touch with Kevin Dykema on X: https://x.com/kdykemaAnd on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dykemamath/ Explore the AAMT’s Explicit Teaching in Maths resource: https://www.mathematicshub.edu.au/understanding-maths/professional-learning/explicit-teaching-in-maths/ Podcast produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studiohttps://eastcoaststudio.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


