Hey Guys,
If you are trying yo get registered as a proficient or highly accomplished teacher, I have got you covered with Ninja Maths. Here is an annotation I have completed for you; all you need to do in implement Ninja Maths at your school and your good to go!
Annotation: Ninja Maths
I implemented Ninja Maths at my school due to a need at primary school level. I was made aware that the upper school teachers were unhappy with the basic maths knowledge of the students coming though. At a primary school level our focus is on literacy and numeracy. All numerical knowledge begins with basic fact understanding. The Australian Curriculum requires basic facts be taught from year one through to year six within the Number and Algebra strand, Ninja Maths lead teachers to cover these content descriptors with by utilising this new and contemporary program. (standard 2.3) I implemented the program to inspire all students across the full range of abilities to want to improve their basic facts. All students are motivated to improve their individual results and this allows growth for all students by helping them set the goal of achieving the next Ninja ranking level. (standard 1.5 and 3.1)
Research has concluded that learning basic facts is incredibly important. Brain imaging studies have shown how the progression from effortful processes, such as finger counting, to automatized retrieval is associated with actual changes in the regions of the brain involved in mathematical computation (Rivera, Reiss, Eckert and Menon, 2005).
Research has also found that Math facts fluency leads to higher order mathematics. Through automaticity students free up their working memory and can devote it to problem solving and learning new concepts and skills (Geary, 1994). Quite simply, a lack of fluency in basic math fact recall significantly hinders a child’s subsequent progress with problem-solving, algebra and higher-order math concept.
Educators and Cognitive Psychologists agree that the “ability to recall basic math facts fluently is necessary for students to attain higher-order math skills” (Whitehurst, 2003).
“Recent research in cognitive science, using MRI’s, has revealed the actual shift in brain activation patterns as untrained math facts are learned” (Delazer et al., 2003).
Instruction and practice cause math fact processing to move from a quantitative area of the brain to one related to automatic retrieval” (Dehaene, 2003). (Standard 2.1 and 2.5)
The ‘Ninja Maths’ program includes addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. The program is taught in a sequence of one operation per term, providing teachers with a coherent plan for implementing their teaching of basic facts.
The effect size of ‘Ninja Maths’ was measured over one 10-week term in six classrooms teaching year five, six and sevens from Mandurah and Austin Cove Baptist Colleges (Standard 2.1). John Hattie himself checked the accuracy of the calculations. If you are familiar with John Hattie’s ‘Effect size’, you will know that 0.4 is the normal improvement seen in an area of learning over the course of a year. After analysing the data from the classes using Ninja Maths for a term it was found to have an effect size of 1.72. That is over 4 years worth of improvement in 10 weeks! (Standard 1.2, 2.5, 3.2 and 5.4)
I lead colleagues from my school in the implementation of Ninja Maths. This gave the teachers strategies to improve student learning. Research and data analysis supports the fact that Ninja Maths improves intellectual development and attitude towards maths in students. (Standard 1.1)