Tag Archives: practical

125. View from … Pensthorpe

The Sandpit is currently in Norfolk and on a daytrip to Pensthorpe. In the ‘Wild Rootz’ adventure playground there is a bridge – except it’s not.

It’s a damped ‘see-saw’, which you can run up and down. This is great fun – people run from one end to the other and try to reach the end before it goes down, with a bump.

However, you can also use the principle of moments to try and balance the bridge. It took a bit of running up and down and fine tuning (bouncing), but we got the bridge balanced with five members of the family, age range: 84, weight range: wouldn’t be polite to say.

If you know somewhere near you, with a similar piece of equipment, this would be a brilliant way to demonstrate moments with a Sixth Form class. Obviously the calculations would be slightly out, due to the effect of the dampers, but it’s still fun – and a lot safer than piling a whole class on a see-saw.

82. Gadget of the Day 1

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What are these?

compasses1

I came across them when I was making a circle skirt and it occurred to me they’d be a great teacher tool. They’re generally known as a yardstick compass. You attach the pointy end to one end of a metre (or yard) stick and the pencil end at your desired radius. Each end has a cap which tightens to the height of your ruler. Hey presto – a giant pair of compasses! Never again will you search high and low for something big and circular to draw around or try using a drawing pin and a piece of string.

compasses2

There are lots of American websites that sell them, but in the UK I’ve only seen them on Art supply sites eg Handover.co.uk

81. Xmind

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My HoD introduced me to Xmind earlier in the year. It is mind-mapping software that is available for free and compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux systems. You can download it from Xmind.net. The initial mind-map can be linked to subsequent maps with the click of a button. Each new mind-map appears on a separate page, just like worksheets in Excel. Here are three examples of it’s use:

1. Schemes of work

This year I’ve taken a more abstract look at schemes of work. We’ve changed over from modular to linear with our foundation GCSE pupils (Higher are already linear) and the scheme needed a shake up.

Year 9 Set 4 Scheme

Instead of word documents or spreadsheets of topics, you can mind-map every aspect of your scheme from outline programme of study through to resourced, objective-led lessons. You can insert links from the scheme to resources and create hyperlinks to web pages. If a unit is moved within the scheme, you simply drag it to the new place – no fuss or cutting/pasting. Even the techno nervous can confidently use this software in under ten minutes.

Personally, I like the fact that I can stick the whole plan for a unit of work on the wall on one sheet of paper next to the A4 overview of the year.

2. Mindmaps

Of course, Xmind is mind-mapping software and students can also use it. Recently I’ve used it to consolidate group work by getting each group to contribute an idea to a central mind-map, they then kept going until all the ideas in the room were included. Then I took on the role of editor and dragged common themes together. I also added anything they’d missed. The class could have a readable mind-map each, confident that it had been checked by the teacher and knowing that they had contributed to it. I could also then use the map as a starter in the following lesson, without having to stick bits of flip chart paper on the board.

3. Survey Feedback

You can also use each page of the mind-map to represent a survey question, which had a written answer. You can summarise and categorise a lot of information in a single page.

Note
There are similar compatible smartphone apps which means you can sketch out an idea on your phone and finish it on a computer.

80. Sunshine and constructions

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Here is a quick consolidation/revision/application task for constructions, which involves very little preparation. If the sun isn’t shining you could always adapt this for indoors.

Equipment
Chunky chalk (look in your local pound shop)
String
Straight edge and tape measure or just a metre stick
Usual classroom textbook/notes

Task
A company has sketched out a set of new signs and it is your job to accurately draw them without a protractor. The task is differentiated by sign design.

Sign 1
Made from a rectangle and two equilateral triangles.

Sign 2
Same as sign 1, but with a border of constant width

Sign 3
Made from a rectangle, an equilateral triangle and a right angled isosceles triangle.

Sign 4
Same as sign 3, with a border of constant width.

Skills used:
Constructing an equilateral triangle (1,2,3,4)
Constructing the locus of a moving point (2,4)
Bisecting an angle (3,4)
Constructing a perpendicular bisector (optional in all cases)

Activity
Once the signs are allocated, each group must present a plan to the teacher on how they will draw it. They may use their notes, textbooks and smartphones (if your school allows this).

When the groups are outside, they can easily increase their understanding by moving on to the next design or developing their own arrows.

Examples of work

Health Warning!
These signs, when viewed from the end, can look rather like rockets. All I will say is:
rockets + construction arcs + pink chalk + teenager boys’ level of humour= ….

64. Through the square window

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Did you get the ‘Through the square window’ reference? Hmmm… for those too young to remember the BBC programme ‘Playschool’ here is a picture:

This activity is all about regular polygons. It would be best for primary pupils or lower ability KS3.

Equipment
Clear lids from big yoghurt pots.
Sharpie markers or similar
Post-it notes
Pencil, ruler, protractor, compasses

Prep

On the reverse of a post-it note, draw a regular polygon.

Stick the post-it on the underside of the lid.

Trace the shape onto the plastic lid.

Label it.

You have just made a shape viewer!

Activity
Give pupils shape viewers and challenge them to find as many ‘real life’ examples of each shape as they can in the classroom or playground.

As the lids are clear, pupils can look through them to find the shapes.

Note
You could make a rectangle viewer and challenge pupils to explain why it isn’t regular.

57. The coolest table ever

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This has to be seen to be believed.

Is it a square table?
Is it a triangular table?
It’s both!

Math Monday

If you browse the Museum of Maths website, you’ll find so many great ideas – many by George Hart (co-founder of MoMath & Vi Hart’s dad). The posts were originally part of a collaboration between the ‘Make’ magazine website and MoMaths. The archive of projects and new posts are now available from the MoMath site.

I’ll bet you’re thinking about how to get one …

Maths Sandpit

Secondary Maths Teaching Inspiration

Tag Archives: practical

125. View from … Pensthorpe

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82. Gadget of the Day 1

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64. Through the square window

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