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Take a bet…

10 May

Clearly gambling is not something which we should be promoting in Maths, but allowing students the opportunity to gamble opens up the chance to discuss the moral, social and financial implications in a real way. When teaching probability as an end of unit project (in pairs) I ask students to create a game, this is an idea which I adapted from this resource on the TES.  I usually start the lesson by giving an example of a game for them to think about – powerpoint here. Then they have to design their own and make sure the odds are in their favour, they have to work out the probability of winning and losing, think about pricing and prizes and from this work out their expected profit if 10 or 100 people play. This can be easily differentiated through outcome and I have done it with low ability year 7 up to top set year 9 by just adapting the success criteria.

Once they have had a lesson to design their game, make any resources and do all the maths you need to get your hands on some plastic money. Each team gets £10 (their games should cost between 0-£2 to play) and the students set up their games like a fair, they have the opportunity to go around playing one another’s games. Once ten people have played their game they should ‘shut down’ their stall. After this, get students to count their money and see whether they made the expected profit they calculated the previous lesson. You can then have a great discussion about why they didn’t make their expected profit (experiments differ from theory) and whether they still have their original £10 and how this relates to gambling in real life – e.g. the house always wins!

This is a fun project but also a great opportunity to assess and explore lots of elements of probability. If you like this idea you may also like this resource on the TES which is brilliant and includes several games for students to investigate before making their own.

Outdoor Learning – The first instalment!

5 Mar

As the weather starts to improve there’s nothing quite like breaking free from the confines of your classroom and letting your students loose outside! Everyday this week I will be blogging about an idea to get your students up and out of the classroom…

Trigonometry in real life

This lesson has always gone down really well with my students. You need to have studied using trig for calculating missing sides and angles in right-angled triangles. I would split this into two 50 minute sessions (or some equivalent of this!) this is the Powerpoint I have used in the past – you could update it with pictures from around your school!

Lesson 1:

Present students with a question like ‘how could we work out the height of the school?’ (slide 2) and get them to brainstorm ideas. If you need to then show them slide 3 and guide them through the process of using trig. Then ask them how they might measure the length of the base and the angle. The rest of the lesson can be spent making the clinometers, some really clear instructions on a printable worksheet are available here. And designing their data collection table. You will need some trundle wheels or long tape-measures (raid the PE department!)

Lesson 2:

Group students into threes and off they go! You would probably want to place yourself somewhere central so you can keep an eye on them and you are available for help! In my experience it is also worth giving each group a little ticket you have signed explaining that they are meant to be out of class.

Back in the classroom after half an hour or so you can reveal the heights and get students to calculate the difference between their answers and yours, then they can calculate the average which you can compare to pick a winner. In with this you can discuss the accuracy of their results and even other applications (see numberloving.co.uk for a resource on using trig to calculate distances in the solar system)

Your Christmas Reading List!

15 Dec

I can’t think of anything better than cuddling up in the holidays with a good book (about Maths of course). Here are Number Loving’s top holiday reads:

1. If the world were a village by David J. Smith is a fascinating account of what the world’s population would be like if it were scaled down to a village of 100 people. You are told so many facts about their ethnic origin, education, standard of living and more, making this a brilliant book to bring out when doing statistics or proportion. It also brings in global issues, for example 17 people in the village can not read and write, what is this as a fraction? or a percentage? if there are 7 billion people in the world how many can not read and write? You can generate endless questions with a sense of importance about them.

2. Addition by Toni Jordan is a fictional comedy about a fellow Maths obsessive, it is really funny and has some nice Maths references

3. Origami Fun Kit for Beginners by Dover is a great introduction to origami, students absolutely adore to do this and it brings in so much Maths in terms of shapes, fractions, angles, estimating, … the list goes on. It is well worth learning a few simple ones to bring out as a fun starter.

4. Conned Again Watson: Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math and Probability by Colin Bruce is a brilliant account of twelve Sherlock Holmes mysteries which all bring in elements of statistics and game theory, I have taken much inspiration from the stories in this book.

5. Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities by Ian Stewart is a fabulous collection of interesting Mathematical happenings, you can dip in and out of the book and I must have got at least 20 starters and plenaries from ideas in here, there are a few in the series and all are worth a good read. There are quite a lot of books like this on the market but this is definitely one of the best.

6. Secrets and Mince Pies by Craig Barton is a very funny fictional book, written by the ever popular Mr Barton it charts the run up to Christmas of a typical family making it seasonal too, recommended to all but especially number lovers. And what is even better is that it’s available on the Kindle for less than £2!

7. Alex’s Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos is a brilliant book charting the travels of Alex Bellos as he jaunts around the globe, there are some real gems in here which will inspire lots of engaging starters for your lessons

8. A brief Guide to the Great Equations by Robert Crease is a stunning book, it describes the ten most beautiful equations and the story behind their conception. Of course it includes Euler’s equation but the other nine are equally brilliant. This is an absolute must read for any A-level Maths teachers to help put some history and beauty into your lessons. Or for any Maths lovers for some self-indulgence!

Happy reading and Merry Christmas from Number Loving!

Christmaths Collection Part 2

11 Dec

Not forgetting the fabulous 12 games of christmas on the TES, these 12 games are designed for primary but you can select the level of difficulty so they are suitable as a starter for your KS3 classes, I will be kicking off my lessons with one of these each day leading upto Christmas. Great fun!

Modular Examinations RIP 2014?

2 Nov

The imminent changes in the United Kingdom are far away but close enough that Heads of Departments/Directors of Learning need to consider them now. Especially if your current year 9′s have began studying the GCSE modular course, is that your school?

On the 27th of October 2011 the UK government released details of plans to reform the Key Stage 4 performance tables which are published annually following results. In a nut shell one of the main changes will be that no more than two non-GCSE qualifications will be counted as equivalent in the school’s headline measures. Therefore this has potential to effect the number of pupils achieving five A*-C GCSE qualifications in school’s.

Those subjects following a modular course will need to ensure that their course is in section 96 of the “headline measure list” to be published in January 2012. Beware if you plan for any of your current year 9 pupils to take a modular examination this academic year (i.e. whilst they are in year9), this course has to be completed by summer 2013 (i.e. the end of year 10). If the full modular course is not completed by summer 2013, the course must be recognised in section 96. In addition the modular course looks ‘likely’ to be scrapped completely after 2014, so get in touch with your exam board and find out how they plan to change modular courses to linear courses.

Further information can be found on the Big Vocational Debate website and on this document of Briefing_and_FAQs.

What are your department’s plans for the future? Do you believe in the modular course?

Too late to blog?

25 Oct

Is it too late to blog? Has blogging lost its cool? Am I year’s behind everyone else? Yes maybe but does that mean it’s too late to start?

Can I blog a blogger? Is that cool?

So I have recently caught onto the existence of blogs about teaching.

Yes it is embarrassing to admit that the thought hadn’t entered my mind until a colleague discovered Colleen Young’s blog Mathematics, Learning and Web 2.0 about Midd Spots. Wow, a whole new world appeared. Soon after I discovered Larry Ferlazzo’s blog Websites of the Day, and the rest is history!

No it’s not too late, of course not. Does it matter if its cool? No. Am I year’s behind? Yes some but no it’s not too late to start. After all I wouldn’t be a teacher if I answered any differently.

Thank you to those bloggers, Colleen and Larry who have been an inspiration and brought sparkle to my teaching.

Now I hope to spread the word and share good practice. Wish me luck!

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