The Mathematics Teachers Conference 2021, jointly organised by Mathematics and Mathematics Education (MME) Academic Group and the Association of Mathematics Educators, took place virtually on 4 June 2021. The theme of the conference was “The Joy of Learning Mathematics” and more than 380 participants, most of whom local mathematics teachers, came together for a fruitful day of learning.

Seven internationally and locally renowned educators were among the speaker line-up. They were:

• Dr James Tanton, a prominent mathematician from the USA, who shared his revolutionary concept of ‘Exploding Dots’ and how it can transform the teaching of mathematics.
• Dr John West, an education consultant from Australia and the current President of the Mathematical Association of Western Australia, who spoke about ‘Motivating, Maintaining and Maturing’ students’ mathematical reasoning ability.
• Professor Yoshinori Shimizu, from Tsukuba University in Japan, who advocates ‘Tinkering with the Problem’ as an approach to mathematical problem solving.
• Professor Peter Liljedahl, from Simon Fraser University in Canada, whose topic on ‘Building Thinking Classrooms’ is aimed at making classrooms more than just a space where students learn to mimic.
• Professor Berinderjeet Kaur, from the NIE, who presented on how interactions between individuals can generate knowledge where ‘The sum of the parts is greater than the whole’.
• Professor Lee Ngan Hoe, from the NIE who shared a constructivist approach to ‘Developing Creators and Consumers of Mathematics’.
• Professor Toh Tin Lam, from the NIE who focused on ‘Infusing Problem Solving into Teaching A-Level Mathematics’.

Click here for the detailed programme and synopses of the lectures.