Holy Saviour Family Maths Night July 30th 2014

7:00 – 8:30pm

Challenging all children in the mathematics classroom

Danny and TomTom and Danny travelled from school to the

shops on foot. Danny walked half the distance and ran half the distance. Tom

walked half the time and ran half the time. They started at the same time, and walked at the same speed as each other and ran at the same speed as each other. Who arrived

first, or was it a tie?

  

Special offer

THREE PAIRS FOR THE PRICE

OF TWO

The free pair is the cheapest one

  

Special offerTHREE PAIRS FOR THE

PRICE OF TWOThe free pair is the cheapest one

Virginia and Samantha go shopping for shoes. Virginia chooses one pair for $110 and another for $100. Samantha chooses a pair that cost $160.

When they go to pay, the assistant says that there is a sale on, and they get 3 pairs of shoes for the price of 2 pairs.

Give two options for how much Virginia and Samantha should each pay? Explain which option is fairer.

Option 1 split the bill - they pay $135 eachOption 2 split the saving – Virginia pays $160 and Samantha pays $110

• Virginia $110 + $100

• Samantha $160

• When they go to pay, the assistant says that there is a sale on, and they get 3 pairs of shoes for the price of 2 pairs. (the fine print says that the cheapest pair is the free pair)

• Now the total spend is $270

  

Special offer

THREE PAIRS FOR THE PRICE

OF TWO

The free pair is the cheapest one

  

Special offerTHREE PAIRS FOR THE

PRICE OF TWOThe free pair is the cheapest one

Virginia and Samantha go shopping for shoes. Virginia chooses one pair for $110 and another for $100. Samantha chooses a pair that cost $160.

When they go to pay, the assistant says that there is a sale on, and they get 3 pairs of shoes for the price of 2 pairs.

Give two options for how much Virginia and Samantha should each pay? Explain which option is fairer.

Holy Saviour Family Maths Night July 30th 2014

7:00 – 8:30pm

Challenging all children in the mathematics classroom

Holy Saviour Family Maths Night July 30th 2014

7:00 – 8:30pm

Challenging all children in the mathematics classroom

Encouraging Persistence Maintaining Challenge

How much do you like doing maths at school?

Great

OK

Not so good

Terrible

Don’t know

How much do you like doing maths at school?

Great

OK

Not so good

Terrible

Don’t know

35%

40%

20%

5%

0%

Which type of lessons do you like?Give each a score out of 10

Which type of lessons help you learn? Give each a score out of 10

• practice • investigations • games • challenges

Which type of lessons do you like?

Which type of lessons help you learn?

Average score

• practice 7 8• investigations 7 7• games 8 7• challenges 8 8.5

I am prepared to have a go to work things out even when I am not sure.

Always

Mostly

Occasionally

Never

Don’t know

I am prepared to have a go to work things out even when I am not sure.

Always

Mostly

Occasionally

Never

Don’t know

48%

36%

8%

5%

3%

Some Challenging Tasks

1. I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into

groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have?

I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into

groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have?

I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into

groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have?

6 + 6 + 2 = 146 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 206 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 26

I know I have between 15 and 25 apples. When they are put into

groups of 6 there are 2 apples left over. How many apples do I have?

6 + 6 + 2 = 146 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 206 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 26

Challenging Tasks

Launch

ExploreSummarise

What ‘Challenging Tasks’ are NOT!

• Asking questions that are so easy that everyone can do them

• Lessons that are so hard that the students feel overwhelmed

• Setting up groups that might allow some students to hide

• Excessive repetition (although, some is needed)

Thinking about the lesson structure

• In this view, the sequence– Launch (without telling)– Explore (for themselves)– Summarise (drawing on the learning of the students)

• … is cyclical and might happen more than once in a lesson (or learning sequence)

Launch

ExploreSummarise

FABLE FOR SCHOOLOnce upon a time the animals decided they mustdo something heroic to meet the problems of thenew world. So they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum consisting ofrunning, climbing, flying and swimming. To make

it easier to administer the curriculum, ALL theanimals took ALL the subjects.

The duck was excellent at swimming, in fact better thanhis instructor, but he only just passed flying and hisrunning skills were very poor. Since he was slow atrunning he had to do extra practice after school andalso had to drop swimming and take extra classes in

running. This was continued until his poor webbed feetwere badly worn and he was only average at swimming.

But as average was acceptable at the school nobodyworried about this except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top ofhis class in running, but became a

school refuser because of thestress caused by so much extrawork in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbingbut he developed behaviour problemsin the flying class, where the teacher

insisted on him starting from theground up instead of the treetop

down. He became so unfocused thathe scored a C in climbing and a D inrunning. His doctor has diagnosedADHD.

The eagle was a problem childand was disciplined severely. In

the climbing class he beat all theothers to the top of the tree, butinsisted on using his own way toget there. The school counsellorthinks he probably hasOppositional Defiant Disorder.

At the end of the year an abnormal eelthat could swim exceedingly well andalso run, climb and fly a little had thehigher average and was dux of theschool

MESSAGE:The differences in students makes a

major impact on what students need tolearn, the pace at which they need tolearn it and the support they need from

teachers and others to learn it.

To the classrooms

4 tasks• Prep level• Gr1/2 level• Gr3/4 level• Gr5/6 level (library)

Choosing tasks and structuring lessons

• If we are seeking fluency, then clear explanations followed by practice will work

• If we are seeking understanding, then very clear and interactive communication between teacher and students and between students will be necessary

• If we want to foster problem solving and reasoning, then we need to use tasks with which students can engage, which require them to make decisions and explain their thinking