Today we have a guest contributor to the Sandpit – my colleague BH.
His Year 9 class have been studying Surds. They have just completed two particularly difficult Tarsia puzzles on simplifying surds. He celebrated their success by getting the class to create a ‘Sunny Surd Sunflower’ – what a great way to celebrate springtime and achievement.
UPDATE: Inspired by the bright sunflower, my class created an AVERAGE caterpillar!
Look what my class did today:
We used a hexagonal Tarsia puzzle on expanding single brackets to create large hexagons.
The puzzles were stuck on paper, cut out and the edges reinforced with tape. Twelve hexagons make a splendid snowflake. Once it was stuck together, the wall display was as tall as a Y7 pupil.
Just think what you could do with Tarsia puzzle shapes: snowflakes from hexagons, christmas trees from triangles and bunting from dominoes.
If you want more puzzles, visit Mr Barton Maths for a plethora of resources.