thinking mathematically through games. if you ask mathematicians what they do, you always get the...
TRANSCRIPT
Thinking mathematically through games
If you ask mathematicians what they do, you
always get the same answer. They think.
M. Egrafov
6 + 4 = 10
10 take away 9 makes 1
1 add 17 is 18
18……
Competitive aim – stop your partner from going
Collaborative aim – cross off as many as possible
What’s the longest chain?
Is it possible to strike them all out?
If so how?
If not why not?
What is the mathematical knowledge that is needed to play?
Who would this game be for? What is the value added of playing the
game? Could you adapt it to use it in your
classroom?
Low threshold high ceiling
Accessible to all at the start Plenty of supporting activity for those who
benefit from it Lots of opportunities for challenge for
those who decide they are ready for it Lots of opportunities for teacher to tweak
both the mathematical knowledge needed and the mathematical thinking
Children can do more than you think Children’s own problems Importance of talk and questioning Children as mathematicians
‘Effective teaching requires practitioners to help children see themselves as mathematicians. For children to become (young) mathematicians requires creative thinking, an element of risk-taking, imagination and invention - dispositions that are impossible to develop within the confines of a work-sheet or teacher-led written mathematics.’ Worthington and Curruthers 2007
Valuing mathematical thinking
Creative climate and conjecturing
atmosphere
Purposeful activity and discussion
Conditions for learning
Purposeful activity
Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and if the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking;
learning naturally results.John Dewey
Liz Woodham
Bernard Bagnall
Fran Watson
nrich.maths.org