Maths+Problem+Solving+2014

Mrs Leckie met with 2 groups of maths loving students from Central Southland. We learnt to write or visualise number sentences as she set us to work solving problems using a variety of strategies. The maths wasn’t any harder than what we would do at school, but it took skill and strategy to figure out what the words were asking. It sure was helpful to use paper to help us visualise what the number story was about.

**Key Competencies we used were:media type="file" key="Our Maths Reflections.mov" width="360" height="360" align="right"** • Thinking • Using language, symbols and texts • Managing self • Relating to others • Participating and contributing

**Problem Solving Strategies we looked at were:** • Guess and check. • Work backwards. • Solve a simpler related problem. • Make a table or chart. • Make a model. • Act it out. • Account for all possibilities. • Write a number sentence.media type="file" key="Senior Maths Reflections.mov" width="360" height="360" align="right" • Make a drawing/ graph. • Look for a pattern. • Be methodical and systematic.

**Skills we needed were:** • Numeracy • Estimation • Using prior knowledge • Read questions carefully

**Attitudes we needed were:** • Give everything a go. • Perseverance. • Keep an open mind. • Being positive. • Enthusiasm

If you are interested in working with Maths after high school this is a really interesting video clip by people who LOVE Maths. []

These websites have Maths problems you can enjoy solving. Remember to use the problem solving strategies you know. https://e-ako.nzmaths.co.nz/ [] [] []

**Here are 3 challenges we tried with Mrs Leckie.** **Challenge 1** At a scout camp there is 1 tent for every 3 children. There are 5 tents. How many children are there? 1:3 2:6  5:15  That’s called ratios.

In class today there were 10 boys and 6 girls. That’s a ratio of 10:6. If there were 50 boys, how many girls would there be? Tip: Use multiplication. We found at least 3 ways of ratio solving problems. Here are some more ratio problems to try.

**Challenge 2** ½ x ½ x ½ = ½ of ½ of ½ = Make a model: snake and a knife

**Challenge 3** 14 people attended a meeting. Each person shook hands with everyone else. How many handshakes where there altogether? Act it out is the strategy we used.