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October 2023 In this edition of the News you will find:   New DIY Workshop Video   Grab   Get to Know a Cameo      ... Dominoes      ... Pentagon Triangles Please feel free to distribute this information.

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• New DIY Workshop Video

  Years (K)/1 - 12

  Aiming High? Dig Deeper explores a pedagogy of achieving high aims in mathematics by digging deeper into fertile learning ground such as Task 51, Staircase (which is the stimulus investigation of this workshop) rather than moving too quickly to something new. In the context of learning to work like a mathematician in fascinating, captivating and absorbing classrooms, the video highlights teaching craft - for example visual learning, kinaesthetic learning and journal writing in maths - and uncovers mathematics content from Year 1 to Year 12.

  You organise the workshop and a local leader, usually a staff member. The video provides the content. See Link List below for more detail on content, links to print materials and other organisational support.

• Grab

  Just getting ready for the game involves mathematics. What possible informal maths experiences do you see here? Remember to use the driving questions: How do you know? Can you check it another way?

  Designed and developed for K - 2 by four teachers from Kingston Primary School, this is simple, fun game offers lots of support for number sense development and recording number on an open number line and in graphical form. The game begins by pressing out all the red plugs and placing them in the bag (or other container). The key is children are playing to 'compete' against their own prediction, which they have first recorded on their calculator. They predict first the number they think they can withdraw from the bag with one hand, then carry out the experiment. Grab is from the Free Tour section of the site, so follow the Link List below for all the extensions (known so far) that can develop from the experiment. Feel free to send contributions to the activity that grow out of using it in your classroom.

• Get to Know a Cameo

  Task 33, Dominoes
  

  In this task the dominoes are used to stand for one or two digit numbers. The orientation of a domino tells you which side of it stands for tens and which side for ones. The number of dots on a side tells you the number in that place. Examples: The domino with 6 dots on one side and 0 on the other can be oriented to be either 60 or 06, i.e. sixty or six. The domino with 3 dots on one side and 4 on the other can be oriented to be either 43 or 34, i.e. forty-three or thirty-four. The domino with 2 dots on each side can only be oriented as 22, i.e. twenty-two.

  There several solutions to both questions 1 and 2, so some level of success is likely for everyone. However each of these challenges also begs the questions:

  • How many solutions are there?
  • How do I know when I have found them all?

  It takes careful execution of trying every possible case to answer these challenges and doing so might not be for all students. Key steps in carrying the process through are recorded in the cameo, but consider starting a class display of solutions (perhaps hidden behind a curtain), then each pair that tries the task can either add their initials to a solution others have previously found, or record their solution(s) as new ones.

  The challenge section also has several solutions, again begging the same questions and again a reason for keeping a 'wall journal' over time.

  In the eTask Package this task is in the easy to make set because it only one standard set of 28 dominoes.

  Task 81, Pentagon Triangles
  

  Pentagon Triangles were designed by Geoff Giles, a well known Scottish maths educator. Take a regular pentagon and cut it into three triangles along its diagonals. Easy to state, easy to start and the mathematics that derives from the resulting pair of isosceles triangles is amazing. At one level the three pieces can be used for creating spatial patterns and exploring shapes such as triangles, pentagons and decagons. At another there is work on angles, lengths, areas, fractions, decimals, Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio. The card guides a joyful open-ended discovery into these areas and leaves room for students to make their own discoveries.

  In the eTask Package this task is in the 'more work' set because there is printing, laminating and cutting to do from the print master supplied.

Link List Aiming High? Dig Deeper Grab Dominoes Pentagon Triangles eTask Package Task Library Task Cameo Library Task Cameo Content Finder Calculating Changes Calculating Changes Content Finder Calculating Changes Year Level Finder Working Mathematically with Infants Maths At Home Activity Library Order Form Did you miss the Previous News? If so you missed information about: New eTask Schools Koala Capers Children's Own Games Get to Know a Cameo ... Protons & Anti-Protons, Change

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)