This module will develop your knowledge and understanding of teaching primary and secondary school mathematics, emphasising the lower secondary school curriculum, and broaden your ideas about how people learn and use mathematics. It’s a step towards qualifying and developing as a secondary or primary mathematics teacher, teaching assistant, tutor or parent educator.
What you will study
This module is designed to:
develop your mathematical thinking
raise your awareness of some ways in which people learn mathematics
provide you with experience of different approaches to analysing and developing mathematical learning
build your awareness of, and facility with, using technology in the learning and teaching of mathematics (including spreadsheets and geometric and graphing software such as GeoGebra)
develop your knowledge and understanding of some important mathematical ideas.
Successful study of this module should enhance your skills in communicating mathematical ideas clearly and succinctly and explaining mathematical ideas to others.
The full content list is on the Open mathematics and statistics website.
Entry requirements
There is no formal prerequisite study. However,
your own level of mathematics should be at least secondary school level
you do need to have a reasonable standard of spoken and written English.
You can find out more about our mathematics education modules here.
Preparatory work
The free course Teaching mathematics is good preparation for this module.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
marking your assignments and offering detailed feedback to help you improve
providing individual guidance, whether that’s for general study skills or specific module content
guiding you to additional learning resources
facilitating online discussions between your fellow students in the dedicated forums.
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Assessment
Course work includes:
3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs)
End-of-module assessment
For this module, we may use an assessment verification process to meet the requirements of relevant accrediting, professional, statutory or regulatory bodies. As part of this process, you may be asked to attend a short post-assessment video discussion, lasting around 15 minutes. During the discussion, you’ll need to show a photo ID and talk through your answers to a small number of questions with a tutor or a member of the module team. The discussion is not graded and is only used to confirm that you completed the assessment yourself.
What's included
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
a week-by-week study planner
course-specific module materials
audio and video content
assessment details and submission section
online tutorial access
access to student forums.
Additionally, the website includes:
GeoGebra software and associated guidance.
downloadable (non-interactive) PDFs of the module materials.
You will need
a device to take digital images of your work (e.g. a phone/digital camera or scanner).
Computing requirements
Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor (2.4 GHz minimum speed). It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
Peripheral device – Headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone for online tutorials.
Operating systems – Windows 11 or the latest supported macOS.
Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
Browser – Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are recommended; Mozilla Firefox and Safari may be suitable.
Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
Software – Any additional software will be provided or is generally available for free.
If you have a disability
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying ME620 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Future availability
Mathematical thinking in schools (ME620) starts once a year – in October.
It will next start in October 2027.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2031.