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February 2021 In this edition of the News you will find:   International Year of Vaccination   Back to School Special   Get to Know a Cameo      ... Bob's Buttons      ... Training for Maths Please feel free to distribute this information.

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• International Year of Vaccination

  Welcome to what will surely be the International Year of Vaccination.

  As part of the community fight to control Covid 19, and consistent with the Covid Cautious hygiene responses being instituted in your school, you might consider teaching the whole Working Mathematically with Viruses lesson sequence, or at least Exploration 4 from it, within your 'real life mathematics' curriculum.

  This final investigation in the sequence encourages students to use software to explore percentages of population being vaccinated. Students choose their own virus virility measure and vaccination levels to gather evidence for a report to 'government' on the best objectives for a national vaccination programme.

  As with all Maths At Home investigations the on-screen material is designed for self-directed learning and easy adaptation to whole class investigation or homework assignment. It's perfect for using straight from the web site with a data projector and/or student notebooks and pads. The investigation begins with a video to refresh learning from the previous investigations and introduce the new challenge, then the example in the lesson leads students into their own assignment.

  
  
  
  
  • As with all Maths At Home activities the learning sequence concludes with a self-evaluation requirement.
  • You may wish to add other expectations.
  • Also, given the increased virility of the recently discovered UK and SA variants of COVID-19, the first three investigations are worth a look. In these, students are able to choose their own levels of virus 'reproductive strength' and discover the mathematics behind why a virus can infect a population so quickly and so extensively.

  Overall, Working Mathematically with Viruses is rich with mathematical learning, which is listed in the Learners link on the Maths At Home site (see Link List below). The activity was designed for Years 8 - 12, but some primary teachers have found that the videos, consistent and purposeful use of concrete materials, the unfolding levels of challenge and other embedded teaching craft also provide access for many of their students.

  See Link List below for Working Mathematically with Viruses.

• Back To School Special

  Poly Plug is a unique, classroom-savvy resource used throughout: Calculating Changes Task Cameos Maths300 In primary school its major use is to support the development of Number Sense from K to 6. In secondary school its major use it to represent objects in a wide variety of whole class investigations such as Mushroom Hunt, Bob's Buttons, Jumping Kangaroos and many more. For extensive support see Additional Information in the Poly Plug link in Link List below. New stock New year New price Back to school special for a limited time. Packs of 50 @ $9.90 each set Total = $495 (Normally $612.25) Use order form in Link List below.

• Get to Know a Cameo

  Task 123, Bob's Buttons
  

  This task could be in a text book as a challenge in the 'fast finishers' section at the end of a chapter on division. However, in the task form it is an invitation to all students from Year 2 to Year 8 (and beyond). The words and content are the same in either context, so what makes the difference in terms of student involvement. It seems to be simply the provision of the 'buttons'. Now those who need to act out what Bob did can do so, while those who have a strong number sense armoury might begin with pencil and paper. There actually several strategies for attacking the problem, for example, making a model, drawing a diagram, writing an equation or making a table.

  The challenge in this problem is worded in a quite interesting way. The same words imply both that there is just one answer to find to finish the card, but also that the iceberg of the task is to find more than one. The Task Cameo supports teachers to phrase questions which encourage students to explore this iceberg. There are fascinating patterns to find.

  In the eTask Package this task is in the 'easy to make' set because it only requires a collection of about 60 'pretend buttons'.

  Task 137, Training For Maths
  

  Easily stated and easily started, but containing plenty of challenge, this activity leads the students to Fibonacci Numbers. The story shell of an engine followed by a sequence of carriages offers gradually more difficult challenges. Learners explore the number of different sequences that can be created for a given train length using only Size 1 and Size 2 carriages. For example for a 3 unit train the engine could haul -111, -21 or ... When Fibonacci numbers appear (through the process of working like a mathematician), the door is open to further investigation of their appearance in nature. In the eTask Package this task is in the 'easy to make' set because it only requires finding a toy train engine and appropriate blocks to represent 1 unit and 2 unit carriages.

Link List Working Mathematically with Viruses MAH Activity Library (Scroll to end of page) Poly Plug Support Order Form Bob's Buttons Training For Maths eTask Package Task Library Did you miss the Previous News? If so you missed information about: Maths At Home Update Piper Explores Networks Victorian Teachers Get to Know a Cameo ... Truth Tiles 1, Truth Tiles 2

Did You Know? You can Search Mathematics Centre. Our Site Map acts as a Table of Contents to help you find what you need in Mathematics Centre. You can find photos of every task using the Task Library. You can find tasks by content using the Task Cameo Content Finder. You can create your own Task Library in a professional learning context with the eTask Package. Calculating Changes offers Content Finder & Year Level Finder tools. You can find tasks coded by Year Level and Curriculum Strand in the Task Centre Catalogue. (PDF file) You can search for lessons by Year Level, Curriculum Strand, Lesson Features & Keyword at Maths300. You can connect Tasks to their Maths300 companion lesson using Tasks & Maths300. (PDF file) Excel version provided by Pymble Ladies' College also links each Task to its Maths With Attitude content strand. All these links, and more, appear in Working with Mathematics Centre. (PDF file)