Task Design Refinement Seminar

2024-02-03

After Cycle 1 of the VIA project was completed, United Prime Educational Publishing collaborated with Faculty of Education, CUHK to host a 2-hour seminar on teachers’ Task Design refinement. The seminar was held on 3 February 2024, and was aimed at:

• allowing participants to exchange ideas about various ways of refining their task design skills in making mathematics meaningful to their students; and
• bringing more fruitful research output to enhance teachers’ professional growth.

The seminar comprised of 4 sessions. The first session was a keynote speech delivered by Prof. Law. In the session, participants learned about the theory and practice of Task Design for meaningful learning of mathematics. Ways to make a lesson more hands-on were also introduced to the participants. 

The second session was the project teachers’ experience sharing. Three teachers were invited to share their valuable experience of Task Design with the participants.

• Mr To Wai Hei, teacher at Wa Ying College, has chosen ‘Similar 3-D Figures’ as the topic for his S3 students. The example of cup noodles was used as a connection to students’ real-life experiences. Students had to activate their prior knowledge from similar figure to similar solid. The Task Design was conducted on two groups – the action and control groups. Although the results showed no significance difference between the two groups’ performance, it did arouse quality mathematical discourse among the students, thus enhanced their long-term memory which is crucial for their future academic success.
• Mr Yeung Wing Leung, teacher at St. Paul’s Co-educational College, used ‘Congruent Triangles’ as his task design topic for S2 students. During this creative process, students were encouraged to integrate technology into hands-on learning tools. For instance, students were equipped with 3-D pens to create models and visualize concepts. With the objective of encouraging classroom interaction, the task design did facilitate diversified teaching and enhance students’ learning effectiveness.
• Ms Luk Yin Wah, teacher at HKMLC Ming Tao Primary School, has chosen the topic ‘Kilometres’ to kickstart her journey in making mathematics meaningful. In addition to giving lectures, she planned a 1km walking tour at Cross Bay Link in Tseung Kwan O for her P3 students. The tour allowed students to experience the distance of 1km in real life. Under the guidance of teachers, students began their journey. At first, it seemed as though it would be a struggle for them to walk the entire 1km. However, as they walked along, the students found the walking tour enjoyable. At the end, they reached the destination happily. This profound experience encouraged students explore other 1km-long walkways in their neighbourhood.

The third session was the sharing of school experience and teaching practice by three student-teachers. They are Lai Cheuk Hang, Leung Tsz Chung and Wong Tsz Ho, Year 5 students of B.Ed. In Maths and Maths Education, CUHK.

The last session was the teaching resources sharing, which was conducted by the Editorial (Maths) Team of United Prime Educational Publishing.

Invitation of VIA Project: Task Design Refinement Seminar

Photos 1-2: Prof. Law conducting the keynote speech: Theory & Practice of Task Design for Meaningful Learning of Mathematics.