Date added: 31/08/2009 iMaths nominated for Australian Educational Publishing Awards

This year Firefly Press went head-to-head with Macmillan Education Australia in the Australian Educational Publishing Awards with their innovative new series for Primary Schools, iMaths.

Firefly Press was nominated as Best Primary Textbook Series in Australia (2009) by the Australian Publishers Association at its inaugural awards ceremony held in Melbourne earlier this month. The awards recognise the outstanding contribution publishers play in improving the quality of educational materials.

“Being shortlisted as one of Australia’s best educational textbook series is a great honour and I’m proud to be making such a significant contribution to education,” said Peter Stannard – Director, Firefly Press.

The investigations-based numeracy program, was written by six practicing teachers over a 3 year period, one of whom, Chris Linthorne, is a teacher at Siena Catholic College, Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

According to Chris Linthorne, “With iMaths, teachers teach the maths concepts, then ask students to apply that knowledge to real-life engaging investigations.  This is where students will really grasp a concept and then develop the confidence to apply it to new problems.”

iMaths investigations ask students to use their maths skills to find solutions to everyday problems such as, what’s the cheapest way to get to a State of Origin match or would it be cheaper if you ran your car on bottled water instead of petrol? 

Firefly Press’ Marketing Manager, Krystal Steer, said, “For the first time students are excited and engaged and are often learning without even realising. We’ve had teachers telling us their students are coming in on their lunch break to work on their investigation. Now that’s the kind of feedback not many maths programs can claim!”

Firefly Press was also a finalist in the 2007 Australian Educational Publishing Awards for the popular literacy program, Sound Waves.

Firefly Press is one of Australia’s leading educational publishers, providing a range of educational products written by practicing teachers for practicing teachers.