Coming away from the KS1 Maths reasoning course I felt inspired to share the guidance and motivate staff at my school to integrate and teach reasoning.

I love how we are encouraged to put ourselves in the position of the child and use the resources to do activities myself, it made the session fun too!

Hannah B, Pebble Brook Primary School, Crewe

Reasoning in KS1 Maths follows on from Creating and Thinking Critically in EYFS and it needs to be modelled and taught alongside work with numbers. Children need to learn that there are different ways to solve a Maths problem or even to find the answer to a simple calculation. They will need to make choices and be able to explain what they have done but also why they have chosen that particular approach. They need to develop new skills like working systematically but alongside the ability to explain this approach in a clear and succinct way.

“It’s quite hard to pin down what ‘reasoning’ looks like. At KS1 we’re looking for good ‘because’ statements. And if there are two or more which make a chain, that’s progress.”

The University of Cambridge Faculty of Mathematics NRICH

Why is teaching reasoning in KS1 Maths so important?

The national curriculum for mathematics has three stated aims and the second aim is to ensure that all pupils: reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language

Research by Nunes (2009) identified the ability to reason mathematically as the most important factor in a pupil’s success in mathematics. It is therefore crucial that opportunities to develop mathematical reasoning skills are integrated fully into the curriculum. Such skills support deep and sustainable learning and enable pupils to make connections in mathematics’

You may also be interested in our INSET courses on Metacognition – click here

Developing Reasoning in EYFS/KS1 at a Mastery and Greater Depth level

This course will look at where reasoning sits within the EYFS Framework and the National Curriculum for Years 1 and 2. We will consider how to create the foundations for reasoning through thinking critically in Early Years and how to build on this at a mastery and greater depth level in KS1. We will explore how to plan meaningful reasoning opportunities into teaching sequences to enable children to provide quality answers

INSET Outline

  • When do we use reasoning?
  • What do we do when we reason?
  • How does reasoning fit into the EYFS and KS1 curriculum?
  • How do we support children to develop their reasoning skills from an early age?
  • How can we teach children to articulate their reasoning in a clear and succinct way?
  • How can we capture their reasoning?

enquiries@jmcinset.com

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