Maths Invaders at Templeton Primary School
Aidan Schanssema, Director of Teaching – Numeracy, from Templeton Primary School gives insight into the use of Maths Invaders by Year 2 classes at the
New research has shown that Year 5 students who have learned to type with the leading touch-typing tutor, Typing Tournament Online have a clear advantage going into their NAPLAN Writing Task at Year 5 and above.
The results for the first round of NAPLAN Online are in. For the 20% of Australian students who participated, it appears to have been a great success with 99.8% of students able to complete the online test.
ACARA reports that there was a high degree of correlation between the paper-based and online formats with the results from both able to be placed on the same NAPLAN assessment scale. This said, student writing from the online assessment was judged to be superior. The official ACARA press release gives all the details.
As the publisher of the premier typing tutor used by Australian schools, we are uniquely placed to reflect on this difference in online writing results compared with the paper-based tests.
Given the number of Typing Tournament subscriptions in use in Australian schools it is reasonable to assume that a significant proportion of the schools participating in NAPLAN Online were users of Typing Tournament. Anecdotal feedback from schools on the phone and our on-site visits indicates that many schools completing NAPLAN in the Online version are users of Typing Tournament Online.
Teachers are consistently telling us that that they have been using Typing Tournament in preparation for NAPLAN Online. They say that as students use Typing Tournament, they become more fluent with their computer-based writing. This improvement does not just relate to the written texts but also the entry of answers to the whole range of questions presented by NAPLAN Online.
Many have the perception that students of the digital age are well able to manage a keyboard but the reality for many is very different. For many students their primary digital text experience is based on a smart phone with the production of short informal texts being the focus. It is simply not an adequate preparation for formal online testing of writing capacity.
EdAlive is delighted to endorse the published findings of the Australian Primary Principals Association in its summary report: APPA NAPLAN Online Trial Survey. It indicated that in preparation for NAPLAN Online:
A copy of the report with highlights added is available for your convenience here
Aidan Schanssema, Director of Teaching – Numeracy, from Templeton Primary School gives insight into the use of Maths Invaders by Year 2 classes at the
The link between speed, confidence, fluency and attainment What does a confident student look like? Motivated – an enthusiastic learner who is ready to respond
Research demonstrates that the consistent use of Maths Invaders significantly boosts students’ answer speed (confidence) and attainment (maths age) at a rate well above normal