Course Outline
EDU364 Teaching Senior Secondary Mathematics
Course Coordinator:Margaret Marshman (mmarshma@usc.edu.au) School:School of Education and Tertiary Access
2026Trimester 2
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
In this course, you will develop knowledge and skills for implementing the Queensland Senior Secondary Mathematics Curriculum. You will learn how to design lesson plans and learning sequences that will engage diverse learners. You will explore and analyse a range of pedagogy, assessment, and reporting strategies that maximise learning outcomes for senior students, including developing strategies for supporting literacy, numeracy and ICT learning within Mathematics.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – You are required to engage with asynchronous materials and activities accessed through Canvas modules, course readings and textbook activities. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 9 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – face to face tutorial | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
Course Topics
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Senior Curriculum for Mathematics in Queensland
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Principles of constructive alignment
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Knowledge of how students learn (memory, spacing, retrieval, cognitive overload)
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Strategies for establishing challenging and achievable learning goals with students
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Teaching strategies that support acquisition of new knowledge (explicit teaching, scaffolding, modelling, worked examples)
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Teaching strategies that support application and utilisation of knowledge (rich investigative tasks, inquiry learning, independent problem solving)
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Ongoing formative (to determine prior knowledge/ misconceptions, evaluate progress and inform pedagogical planning) and summative assessment strategies, including moderation and reporting
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Embedding literacy, numeracy and ICT learning (including safe and ethical use of ICT) in Mathematics
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Research, theory and policy perspectives on Mathematics
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Safety, management protocols and risk assessment (in Science, HPE)
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Aboriginal perspectives and Torres Strait Islander perspectives on Mathematics
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Inclusion of diverse learners
What level is this course?
300 Level (Graduate)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership | |
| 1 | Apply your knowledge of mathematics content and curriculum to develop activities for mathematical modelling and Problem solving teaching sequences and assessment strategies to engage all learners. |
Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 |
| 2 | Apply a student centred approach to curriculum planning, assessment, feedback and reporting of student achievement in Mathematics. |
Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 |
| 3 | Demonstrate quality teaching strategies that support the diversity of learners in senior mathematics. | Engaged |
2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 |
| 4 | Apply knowledge of the use of graphics calculators and other technologies to support the use of mathematical modelling and Problem solving in mathematics. |
Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
2.1, 2.6, 3.4, 4.5 |
| 5 | Create oral and/or written communication concerning curriculum teaching, learning and assessment in senior secondary mathematics for classroom and professional contexts. |
Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
3.5
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* Competencies by Professional Body
| CODE | COMPETENCY |
| Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership | |
| 2.1 | Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area |
| 2.2 | Content selection and organisation: Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence. |
| 2.3 | Curriculum, assessment and reporting: Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans. |
| 2.5 | Literacy and numeracy strategies: Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas. |
| 2.6 | Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students. |
| 3.1 | Establish challenging learning goals: Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics. |
| 3.2 | Plan, structure and sequence learning programs: Plan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies. |
| 3.3 | Use teaching strategies: Include a range of teaching strategies. |
| 3.4 | Select and use resources: Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning. |
| 3.5 | Use effective classroom communication: Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement |
| 4.1 | Support student participation: Identify strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in classroom activities. |
| 4.2 | Manage classroom activities: Demonstrate the capacity to organise classroom activities and provide clear directions |
| 4.5 | Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically: Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching. |
| 5.1 | Assess student learning: Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning. |
| 5.2 | Provide feedback to students on their learning: Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning |
| 5.3 | Make consistent and comparable judgements: Demonstrate understanding of assessment moderation and its application to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning. |
| 5.4 | Interpret student data: Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice. |
| 5.5 | Report on student achievement: Demonstrate understanding of a range of strategies for reporting to students and parents/ carers and the purpose of keeping accurate and reliable records of student achievement |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
Enrolled in Program (AE304 and a Mathematical Sciences Extended Minor) or (SE303 and a Mathematical Sciences Major or Extended Minor) or (ED315 and a Mathematical Studies Minor)
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
It is assumed that students have undertaken some tertiary Mathematics courses and these will be drawn upon in the course.
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Details of early feedback on progress
Feedback on the first assessment task will be available during tutorials in Weeks 2 and 3.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Oral | Individual and Group | 20% | 5 minutes |
Week 4 | Online Submission |
| All | 2 | Oral and Written Piece | Individual | 40% | 30 minutes 1000 words |
Week 7 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Portfolio | Individual | 40% | 1800 words |
Week 10 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Assessment in Mathematics | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is to demonstrate your understanding of problem solving and modelling, assessment, moderation, and its alignment with the requirements of the chosen Senior Mathematics curriculum document. |
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| Product: | Oral | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | In groups of 2 or 3 you will complete one of the Problem-solving and modelling tasks (PSMT) provided on Canvas from General Mathematics, Mathematics Methods, or Specialist Mathematics. There will be some time provided in tutorials in weeks 1 and 2 to work on the task. In week 3 you will use the Instrument Specific Marking Guide (ISMG) to mark some responses to the PSMT and as a tutorial group moderate this marking. Create a video presentation of your reflection which includes: • The mathematics and technology needed to successfully complete the PSMT • Alignment of the task with the curriculum • Challenges and learnings from completing, assessing and moderating the PSMT. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Technology in Mathematics Seminar | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is to develop skills in preparing technology resources; demonstrate ways of using computer software and graphics calculators in teaching mathematics; and share ideas with colleagues in a professional development setting. |
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| Product: | Oral and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | In pairs you will choose a topic from one of the General Mathematics, Mathematics Methods or Specialist Mathematics syllabus, and prepare a technology-based activity designed to teach some aspect of the topic. (This must be a different syllabus from Task 1 and does not include Unit 1) In weeks 7 or 8 during the seminar or tutorial you will as a pair: 1. Present the activity to an audience of your peers during the tutorial or seminar. This presentation will take the form of a professional development seminar lasting 20-30 minutes. Allow about 20 minutes for fellow students to try the activity, and a further 10 minutes for questions and discussion. 2. To accompany your oral presentation, provide a handout containing information that will enable another teacher to implement the activity. Your handout should: • Identify the Syllabus, (General Mathematics, Mathematics Methods or Specialist Mathematics) Unit, topic and subject matter • Describe any modifications made to the original form of the activity and the source of the activity • In a rationale explain the purpose of the activity and its relevance to the mathematical topic • State the problem to be solved or task to be completed • Include possible solutions • Include teaching notes 3. Submit your handout online prior to the tutorial |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Collaboration, Organisation, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Retrospective Learning Sequence | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is to demonstrate your understanding and application of teaching, learning and assessment in senior mathematics. |
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| Product: | Portfolio | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Review the sample assessment: Examination given on Canvas. For a small sample of questions from this exam prepare a portfolio that includes: • The unit, topic, and subject matter that you will be responding to. • A sequence of 3 lessons that includes the learning, teaching, and formative assessment activities that will help students learn the material assessed by the chosen question(s). The lessons should include explicit teaching, spacing and retrieval practices, modelling/worked examples, and scaffolding as appropriate, and a range of evidence-based assessment practices to evaluate student learning, adjust instruction, provide targeted feedback and support learning. The first lesson must include how you will identify where a student is in their learning through assessing what they know, or think they know. Planning and sequencing content and tasks are to become increasingly challenging. The lesson sequence must indicate how you plan to include ample opportunities to practise. Full lesson plans are not required. • Provide a short formative assessment task that will assess the learning in these three lessons and detail the feedback process you will use with students. The formative task will be given in a subsequent lesson. • Justify your sequence of learning and how it supports students to undertake the assessment task. Your justification must address why specific teaching strategies were selected, considering the students' familiarity with the content, your choice of curriculum content, assessment, and resources. Explain how feedback from formative assessment might be incorporated in the lesson and with future planning. Identify the teaching of literacy, numeracy (21st C numeracy model) and 21st C skills addressed in the sequence of learning. Draw on syllabus, course readings, and other literature and Australian education policy frameworks. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
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Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Merrilyn Goos,Gloria Stillman,Colleen Vale,Sandra Herbert,Vince Geiger | 0 | Teaching Secondary School Mathematics | n/a | n/a |
Specific requirements
Nil
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: