Workshop Four Plymouth Mathematics

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Workshop FourPlymouth Mathematics

• Newham Primary learning Network 2006-2007
• Gifted Talented Maths
• Year 5

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The workshop was led by Dr Ted
Graham, Professor of Mathematics at
the University of Plymouth

• Our fourth workshop was held
• at Selwyn School on
• Tuesday 28 November 2006.

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Our learning objectives for the day were

• To practise numeracy and problem solving
  skills
• To learn new mathematical skills and use new
  mathematical tools
• To learn maths through practical problem
  solving activities
• To stimulate our enthusiasm for maths and
  raise the profile of our teaching and learning
  programme by working with an mathematical expert.

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twenty-four

• We began with a
  maths game
• which challenges and develops
  numeracy skills.
• Using four given digits we had to make a
  total of 24.

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Examples

• 7 7 3 7
• 77721
• 21324
• 5 5 2 2
• 5x525
• 221
• 25-124
• 1 2 4 ¼
• 2¼8
• 123
• 3x824

The problems
gradually got harder
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• Ted Graham explained that
• 24
• is based on a South African card game.

It can be adapted to be easier- or harder. Ted
suggested that we take the 24 game back to
our schools and present some similar problems
to our classes.
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For the next activity, Ted had brought along some
graphic calculators. They cost 80 each!
calculators and coordinates
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We spent some time familiarisingourselves with
the controls.

• It was important to listen very carefully to
  Teds instructions.
• Each piece of information was vital to our
  success
• We practised drawing triangles and circles using
  coordinates.
• We had to know and understand mathematical
  terminology, such as
• X axis, y axis, radius, circumference, perimeter

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Our first task was to draw a star design on our
calculator screen

• We had to calculate the coordinates and then
  construct
• two triangles in the correct
  places on a grid

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The next task was more challenging

• As soon as we had completed the star design
  successfully,
• we were given a new, more complicated design.
• It consisted of 3 circles and a triangle
  arranged
• on a grid.

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Success!
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Our final challenge was to design, plot and
produce our own shape designs on a grid and draw
them on the graphic calculator
The Elmhurst Group did this
really well
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Number bracelets
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instructions for making a number bracelet.

• Start with a large two digit number, such as 50.
• Treble the unit digit and add it to the tens
  digit.
• So 50 becomes
• 0x3 055.
• Now carry on the pattern.
• 5x315015 etc.
• 50-5-15-16-19..

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Ted had given each of us a number on a yellow
post-it note.As we calculated the sequence of
answers, we added our numbers to the bracelet
chain.
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The number sequence formed a pattern which
curled round, just like a bracelet
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We made more bracelets using different number
patterns.
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Ted explained how this activity could be
developed

• As a way of practising
• and improving times table skills the unit
  digit can be multiplied by increasingly higher
  numbers
• The number patterns generated could be
  listed on a spread sheet
• It could be used as the starting point for
• a mathematical
• investigation

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The afternoon began with a burglary!
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a burglar had broken into a house and left a
hand print on some wet paint.
Ted said that we were going to find out how the
hand print could be used to build up
a description of the burglar.
Using maths to solve a crime
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Investigating hand spans

• By measuring
• We found out that our height is normally about
  eight times our hand span.
• Our arms are about four times our hand span
• Our head is usually the length of one hand span

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Once we had established the correlation between
body size and hand-span, we were able to start
drawing a life-sized image of the burglar.
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• It was a difficult task
• We needed to cooperate, share ideas, listen
  to each other and work as a team.
• We needed to use accurate measuring and
  estimating skills to produce our diagrams.

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It turned out that the burglar was Ted Graham!
Elmhurst had already deduced this.When Ted
compared his height with our diagrams, some of
them were more accurate than others.
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walking graphs

• Our final activity involved working with a
  computer.
• The computer set a graph
• A sensor picked up movement
• We had to move correctly to plot the given
  graph onto a screened grid.

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The graphs got more and more challenging We had
to understand the meaning of the direction and
gradient of the graph. Listening to our
friends advice didnt always produce the best
results
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Children had learnt new skills and were becoming
more confident mathematicians.Teachers had seen
and used new maths tools and had been given ideas
for activities and investigations to follow up in
the classroom.
Sadly, this was our last activity. We all
agreed it had been an excellent day.
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Before we left, Ted reminded us about the
importance of maths in everyday life. He will
leading a Sugar Maths workshop at Tate Lyles
Sugar Refinery on Tuesday 13 March 2007. Our
next workshop is on Wednesday 17 January 2007 at
Elmhurst School.