MATHS IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM

What if I told you, that that Maths lesson this year included counting and making predictions with rice and standing at the side of the road in "high vis" vests?

These are some of the highlights of how Maths has improved so far this year because of the Understanding by Design curriculum planning and the introduction of Maths Pathways. Maths Pathways is an online program that provides every single student with Maths learning tailored to their ability. Those who are doing well in Maths can excel beyond their level, while students who need more help can stay motivated with learning activities which sets them up for success.

So, about the rice. This rich-learning task centered around an Essential Question:

“How can we use Mathematics to make strong predictions?”

Origin of Chess: As the story goes, when chess was presented to a great king, the king offered the inventor any reward that he wanted. The inventor asked that a single grain of rice be placed on the first square of the chessboard. Then two grains on the second square, four grains on the third, and so on. Doubling each time. The king, baffled by such a small price for a wonderful game, immediately agreed. The treasurer explained that the sum could not be paid - by the time you got even halfway through the chessboard, the amount of grain required was more than the entire kingdom possessed. For the most part, this fable is used as a lesson in the power of exponential growth. From the one grain of rice on the first square of the chessboard, the amount increases to the point that by the time you get to square 64, there are over 18 quintillion grains of rice on the board. In Mathematics, it's a demonstration of extreme growth.

Students used the fable about the origin of chess and the rice payment as a practical way to view the effect of compounding interest and exponential growth. The students were able to transfer this knowledge of exponential growth to understand the rapid growth of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tell me the story of this graph: In this task, the students are shown a picture and given a graph. They then have to tell the story of the graph as it relates to the photo. It helps students to read and interpret graphs and to develop their creative thinking.

The "high vis" vests were used when students collected data on traffic obedience to the crossing lights at Aldinga campus and the crossing flags at Morphett Vale campus. This investigation was inspired by the Essential Question:

“How can we use Mathematics to keep us safe?”

Students formulated a hypothesis to test, for example, trade vehicles would speed less than others because they are easily identified. Others compared P-plate drivers against all other drivers. This investigation is still ongoing and the results will be available at the Learning Showcase on Tuesday 22 June at Aldinga and Wednesday 23 June at Morphett Vale.

Another recent creative Maths learning task was the "Would you rather?" activity. The students had to choose between two mathematical concepts and choose one to justify. Both of the options had merit, however, this activity allows for students to apply critical and creative thinking in a Mathematics setting.

We look forward to seeing mathematical knowledge, understanding and creativity continue to grow in the College and we would love to share this with our families at the Learning Showcase.

Hugh Serfontein, Head of Secondary, Morphett Vale

INQUIRING MINDS

American mathematician William Paul Thurston once said, “Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding.”

What does Primary Maths look like at SVCC? At Southern Vales, our aim is for students to dive deeply into the different mathematical concepts and understand them so that they can transfer their knowledge and skills into real world problems and situations. Our students achieve this through the Understanding by Design learning units in all of our Primary year levels.

Students explore Essential Questions to gain deeper understandings of mathematical concepts in the real world. They investigate these questions through hands-on activities from Foundation to Year 2, the investigations that are carried out in Years 3 and 4, and in the rich learning tasks in Years 5 and 6.

Here are some of their Essential Questions for this term and photos demonstrating these questions being investigated:

Foundation: How can we represent numbers? How are numbers used? How are numbers and their representations related? Can you make these numbers in another way?

Year 1: When/Where do we use money? Does its size show its value?"

Year 2: What mathematical equations can we show and learn by looking at an array?"

Year 3/4: How can Mathematics connect people to places? Can teaching something help you learn it? Is the concept of fairness valuable?"

Year 4: What do common fractions look like in everyday life?"

Year 5 and 6 Maths Pathways: Rich Learning Tasks

Each Maths lesson is an opportunity for students to develop problem solving skills, mathematical fluency, understanding and reasoning. It is a place that fosters resilience, determination, and collaboration skills in students as they apply their knowledge and skills on authentic and rich learning tasks.

Suzanne Harvey, Primary Maths Coordinator

SACSA PRIMARY Athletics CARNIVAL

Our Year 2-6 representative athletes travelled to SA Athletics Stadium on Friday 30 April to participate in the 2021 SACSA Primary Athletics Carnival.

Last week seemed to be a war of attrition for several of our star athletes, with a number of them pulling out of the carnival due to illness and injury. It’s a testament to the character and resilience of our students, however, as many reserve athletes were asked to step up with very little notice.

The weather on the day was glorious, and our field athletes in particular revelled in the warm temperatures and calm conditions. Unfortunately, many of our track athletes struggled to adjust to the different conditions on the track, with a few notable exceptions.

Particular highlights of the day included placings in many of the Long Jump and High Jump events, several of the throwing events, and some great distance running races. Special mention to Joshua C, who set a new SACSA record for the 400m.

Special thanks to both Mr Davidsons and to Mr Tracey for training our students; to the teachers who attended and helped on the day; to the students who helped Mr Davidson with track recording all day; and to all of the parent spectators who were able to come along and helped to support our team.

Craig Davidson, Sports Coordinator

Arts Update

Year 11 and 12 Photography students continue to explore different genres and techniques in photography. In the past two weeks they have created black and white portraits using high key and low key lighting and had fun experimenting with using mirrors in various ways. They are now moving on to select their own topics of interest to create a major photographic work. We certainly look forward to seeing their end submissions.

Extracurricular Arts: Kenya, Year 9 Morphett Vale, performed as part of an excellent Fringe Festival performance of Mary Poppins. It was a very professional production and Kenya performed very well. Great job, Kenya!