News

Task 212, Monkeys & Bananas

Our first cameo this issue came to our attention through one of the least experienced of our profession. Hi there Doug, I am currently in first year of my primary education degree through Charles Sturt university. I am very interested in adapting the Monkeys & Bananas problem for an example lesson in problem solving ... I love this problem. I am so excited ... and have been up late working on ways to teach it. It was from cameo that I found the lesson. ... I have changed the problem so that it is centred around easter: Easter Egg Hunt. ... Like I said I am only a 1st year student so I won't be teaching it to an actual class - it's just as a class lesson plan exercise. Warm wishes, A.

You are invited to explore the Link List below to discover what has this young teacher so excited. It's an excitement I share. Just last week I used it as a workshop example for Year 10 - 12 teachers. A is right of course, there is lots in it for upper primary classes, but given its links to Backtracking, spreadsheet algebra, symbolic algebra and the insightful number sense required to explain the pattern in the multiple solutions, there is also plenty in it for all levels of secondary school.

The task cameo includes two contributions From The Classroom. One suggests using the problem in a Poster Problem Clinic, which certainly added to the professional learning for the Year 10 - 12 teachers. The other is from Beth Bright at St. Mary MacKillop College, Canberra who converted the task to Minions and Bananas.

Task 104, Building Views

Our second cameo for the month has been suggested by correspondence with Ian Lowe, one of the most senior members of our profession. Ian sees Building Views and the Mixed Media unit that can be built around it with similar tasks, Investigation Guides to extend further, the Maths300 software with this title and/or the Picture Puzzle of the same name, as one of the few 'good things' available in 2D/3D Geometry. Begin at the Task Cameo in the Link List and follow its links to consider Ian's proposition in more depth. In addition From The Classroom includes email correspondence confirming that a Year 5/6 class did find mistakes in the answers to an Investigation Guide linked to the Maths300 companion lesson.

Recently, Susanna Nilsson, with the support of the Nyköping kommun, organised two workshop days in Working Mathematically. The first for Gymnasium teachers (Years 10 - 12) and the second for Years 7 - 9 teachers. On the in-between afternoon the groups met for a joint session to help bring everyone to the 'same page'.

	Teachers from Nyköping, Sweden, review the teaching craft in Task 190, Protons & Anti-Protons, that is likely to encourage students to learn.		They saw playful fun, links to science, physical involvement, concrete materials, visual learning, all students involved, and more, as important,
	Squares & Square Roots from Calculating Changes opened up possibilities for all levels because the simple calculator game of Squares can be tweaked to involve decimals.		Researching Protons & Anti-Protons on Maths300 as a pair was important for building familiarity with the depth and structure of the lesson plans and recognising their primary purpose as PD support.
	Task 147, Garden Beds, was also explored as a whole class. In the pre-lunch review one teacher commented that you could use this activity for the whole year. It carries within it almost every aspect of linear algebra.		Exploring the first sample set of eTasks was a major part of the afternoon. It was one of several methods of inviting partners to choose their own investigation to explore.
	Refining Task 58, See-Saw, so the fulcrum is narrow, thus requiring more precision to balance the objects. Task 64, 4 & 20 Blackbirds, has many solutions. How do you know when we have them all?		Menu Maths Packs and Picture Puzzles were other techniques used to invite participants to choose their own mathematics - just like a mathematician does.

Following up the extensive new information about Task 166, Sphinx, provided in the previous News, Matt Skoss, AAMT, has shared these two references to even more fabulous information about this remarkable shape.