News

We always knew there was more learning that could be achieved with Rotagrams than estimation of angles, which is the main focus of Task 214, Angle Estimation. We knew because decades ago we were using resource booklets in our classrooms that were written by Geoff Giles. Geoff, who passed away in 2005, was a remarkable educator - inspiring, creative, loved mathematics, understood it in depth and a pedagogical leader. His only aim was to help all kids learn mathematics with as much independence and self-confidence as possible.

A discussion earlier in the month with Sue Lemmer, Mawson Lakes School, has led to Mathematics Centre being granted permission to reproduce Geoff's original DIME Rotagram Booklets and related worksheets as PDF files and to freely distribute them through the site. We are extremely grateful to Geoff's wife for making this happen.

So if you have Rotagrams, you can now do much more with them. The three 16 page booklets are, in effect, three units of work - Equal Angles, Rotation, Directions. If you don't have Rotagrams, then look through the DIME material and consider whether you need to get some. See Link List below.

Task 38, Game Show

If you love to generate a bit of mathematical discussion in the classroom this is an investigation likely to do it. It kept amateur and professional mathematicians busy in the press for months when it was first explored publicly. Three cups, one object under one of them. The host knows which one. The guest points to the cup they think has the object. If they are correct, success! If not, the host reveals what is under a cup they know doesn't have the object. The guest is allowed one more guess. Should they change their mind and choose a different cup? In the eTask Package this task is in the 'easy to make' set. All you need is three plastic cups and a block or similar object. Just make sure your plastic cups are opaque.

Task 230, Pack Up Your Bears

The children have been playing with their tiny bears. There are six bears and its time to pack them up. There are three packing up trays and the most each tray can hold is 6 bears. How many ways can the bears be packed up? How do you record each way? These are the starting point questions. Mathematically we are exploring sets of three numbers that sum to six. The What happens if...? questions are extensive and take the task from Year 2 to something that can be used in Year 7. In the eTask Package this task is in the 'special equipment' set because it really is motivating to use little bears and there is an extra board to copy and laminate. But if your school has the counting bears the task suddenly becomes easy to make.