Peter Kay’s Biscuit Marines – Data Handling investigation!

Getting year 11, two weeks after their terminal GCSE maths paper, to learn the data handling skills we need for statistics GCSE, can be a hard task… I used this investigation 3 years ago with a group of difficult pupils and faced with a similar task, I decided to try again!

After showing the students the clip of Peter Kay’s sketch, I announced that we were going to test his theory, producing hob nobs, rich tea biscuits, tea bags, mugs and milk from the mysterious bag on the floor.. they were naturally immediately intrigued!

Today, we collected discrete data, counting how many dips of each biscuit you could do in a hot cup of tea before it collapsed.  I asked them how we could present the data – they came up with a couple of ideas, choosing one for themselves to do – I’m particularly impressed as they wanted to learn how to draw a pie chart as they thought it would look better, and so demanded to be taught!

Once the pie chart demand is dealt with, we’ll expand the investigation into other biscuits.. and continuous data using time so that we can learn some of the other key skills!!

Overall, a great hook for a weak group – even if it does mean I have 20 mugs to wash up

Human Two Way Tables – Nicki Minaj Vs Lady Gaga

Rachel Futo gave me the great concept of creating two way tables using the students favourite music types..  I decided to use a mash-up of two songs (link) and ask my year 11 class to ‘pick a side!’, with the song playing as they arrived.  They were immediately intrigued, wanting to know what this had to do with maths. 

I put a line down the middle of the room, asking them to stand on their choice of music stars side.  I then put another line across the middle forming a grid and asked them to stand on either side of the line based on whether they were a boy or a girl, before boxing them in.  We then discussed putting totals at the end of each column and row to make the table clear.  Once the students had the idea, I stepped back, put another mash up song on and asked them to create their own table without any help..  they were suprising confident to do this and soon produced a good result, clearly having understood how they worked.

I then put a final song on and this time said I would ask them to create the table without showing me the result.  When they had finished, I asked them to remove 3 cards.

I told them, confidently, that I would still be able to tell how many people had chosen each option and asked them why.  They were easily able to explain the idea of using the totals to calculate the missing values and so how I would be able to achieve my boast.  I set them off to practise on the computers! Great method!

Stick Constructions for Division!

I think I was tired when I thought of this… for a while I thought I was going a bit mad, but it worked really well!

I wanted to give the students a physical representation of the ‘bus stop’ used in division – we have a lot of dowelling and elastic bands in the department which we use to build tetrahedrons, amongst other things, and some basic number fans.

I created a triangular prism from 9 sticks and 12 elastic bands,  and left it at the front of the room to draw the students in – they were instantly intrigued!

With them all watching, I then put a question in using the number fans….  and asked them to help me work out the answer…

By changing the number fans to show how to create the ‘carry on’ and placing the fans on top to show the answer, students gained a clear concept of the processes required.

I then set the group off to build a frame between two and gave them 6 questions to answer using it!

The students were very enthusiastic, and once I clearly clarified the expectations I had for their use of the equipment (obvious uses for elastic bands and sticks quickly come to the minds of 11 year olds!) they were able to use them effectively.

In particular, one student who can struggle to access some methods of working, had the best lesson he has had all half term, finishing more examples than anyone else and showing real pride in his achievements!

Some students even pushed themselves beyond the required division of three digit numbers and extended the problem by asking for more fans - for a

My main hope with this, other than the students practising the required technique, is to provide a memory hook to help them to remember the framework for division when they come up against a problem!   Fingers crossed.. we’ll test the success of this in a couple of lessons time!

synchronised swimming rotational symmetry?!

Love this idea… Can’t wait to try it!

http://t.co/IgBRkyVD

Web Cam based interactive materials

So, a new bit of kit was trialled today… Using a mass detecting camera to track movement and relay the info to a computer ala the new xbox kit..pretty excited about it! I’m assured that its going to make the sellotape based maze below seem old hat!

Watch this space…

Knightmare Angles

So… teaching y7 about angles of rotation in the last week of term required a bit of thought… in the end I went with an old tv classic, which I watched as a kid!

For those of you who weren’t quite as cool as me, Knightmare was a program where a group of kids had to guide one member of their team around a virtual world, whilst they were blindfolded by a giant helmet…

 

Setting up a maze made from sellotape on to the carpet, and replacing the amazing helmet with a cardboard box, I asked students to write a set of instructions as a group, using angles of rotation and measured distances to get one member of their team from the start to one of the end points.  Whilst students were working, I was able to discuss with them their knowledge of direction (clockwise/anti) and accuracy, using protractors, whilst they were thorougly engaged in the task.  Only negative from this is the amount of time it took to set up – one to do after lunch!

 

Constructions in String…

Someone bought some string once in the maths department.  It has since been used for just about any and every topic!

For this latest incarnation of a string based activity, I asked year 7 students to construct tree diagrams to represent probability, rather than simply drawing them.  They were able to make mistakes and quickly alter them, without the upset of redrawing the whole diagram.

Negative – there was a lot of mess (even for me!), perhaps due to the flaky string that dropped bits everywhere!