Andrew Jeffrey's February
2009 Newsletter
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1. Welcome
and Feedback
2. Website
of the Month
3. BT
Young Scientist and The Big Bang
4. The
Human Carroll Diagram
5. Top
Tip
6. Einstein
Says
7. Book
Review
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1. Welcome and Feedback
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Dear Friends,
Sorry this
is being sent out a little later than usual: January has been manic from the
outset – a SATIPS General Council meeting in London on 3rd, flying
out to Guernsey on 4th, back on 5th, where my mobile
phone was stolen, and then to Dublin on 6th. (See section 3 for news
of the Dublin Trip). After that I managed to write off my car in a bad accident
in Brighton, after the previous one had caught fire with me in it – what is it
with me and cars? I then a day spent filming for Teachers’ TV
(more details in March hopefully). I am very relieved that January is
done and dusted, to be honest! I now have a new car which should arrive this
week in time for my trip up to Leeds.
My thanks to
the two subscribers who were kind enough to point out my mistake in the January
issue about Leap Years coming every 400, not every 1000 years. I am always
grateful to anyone who takes the trouble to get in touch, even to point out an
error, so thank you both. I hope you all received the update.
Finally, as
ever, please remember that since this
newsletter is sent out automatically, hitting ‘reply’ will not work – your
reply will not reach me. I can always get emails sent to info@andrewjeffrey.co.uk
; please add this address to your
address book.
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2. Maths Website of the Month.
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I was very
excited recently to discover the entire Cockcroft Report online at Derek
Gillard’s website: www.dg.dial.pipex.com/documents/docs1/cockcroft01.shtml
For those
who don’t know, this report from 1982, entitled ‘Mathematics Counts’ was a huge
review of how maths was and could be taught, and has never been surpassed by
anything that has come since. (You can probably tell why I have never been
invited to work for the government).
If you don’t
read the whole thing (let’s face it, who will) make sure you read paragraph
243. I quote it in every single training session I do, and always ask if anyone
has read it, so be prepared! It’s a wonderful ‘nutshell’ paragraph; check it
out.
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3. BT
Young Scientist and The Big Bang
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Those of you
who are Irish subscribers will have been well aware of the ‘BT
Young Scientist Exhibition’
for years, but the first I heard was a contact by email last year inviting me
to participate. It is something that all teachers will find a most
heart-warming experience; a chance for young people to showcase their talents
and creativity through the design, implementation and display of scientific
research projects.
If you’ve ever
visited the BETT show or The Education show in London, you’ll have some idea of
the scale of the event, but instead of people selling things, there are
students who have discovered/built/proved something fascinating from the world
of maths and science, and lots of cutting edge scientific displays from various
universities, colleges and associations.
Thousands of
students from all over Ireland enter each year, and the best 500 projects are
selected. There are some primary school groups, though the vast majority is
aimed at secondary level students. Projects include
I did take
the Mensa Ireland stand to task over the following question on one of their
handouts: “What is the next number in this series: “1 2 3 5 7 11 13..?” Their printed answer was “17 and 19”! A
shocking error from people of that calibre, and we had quite a debate about it
(good-natured of course!). In the end they took my word for it that 1 wasn’t
Prime, but it was a struggle.
Now the UK
have their eye on producing something similar to the BT Young Scientist, and
our first attempt, ‘The Big Bang’ will take place in Westminster in March. I am
delighted to have been asked to put on a show there, which is more about the
mind than the maths, and I am really looking forward to it. Click
here for details.
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4. The Human Carroll
Diagram
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I recently
observed a lesson in which a teacher was talking to a class about Carroll
Diagrams. It occurred to me that this was a great opportunity to get children
out of their seats and moving around.
‘Movement Moulds Memory’ is one of my favourite
phrases for teachers who work with children of any age, and working with
children’s physiology can help them assimilate and literally experience new
ideas far more quickly than a ‘watch and learn’ approach.
With this in mind, here is a way to involve the whole
class in a sorting activity which will quickly lead to an understanding of
Carroll Diagrams.
You will need: A large space, either indoors or out;
some electrical tape or chalk. And that’s it!
First, draw a line down the middle of the room and ask
the children to sort themselves according to a specific criterion. Make this
very simple at first, asking perhaps “Boys on the right of the line, everyone
else on the left.” For the sake of this example, we will assume this line is
blue and that children stand either to the left or the right of it.
Give a few different examples until they are sure how
the game operates. You might choose house, hair colour, first names beginning
with vowels, etc.
Once this pattern is well established, use different
coloured tape or chalk to make a second line at right angles to the first,
across the centre of the room. Use this second line to repeat the activity
using different sorting criteria. We will assume the second line is red, and
children can either stand in the top or the bottom of the room.
Allow plenty of time for this so that the children are
all well used to the idea of sorting themselves using one line or the other.
Next apply criteria to both lines; for example, girls
to the right of the blue line, people with blonde hair to the top of the red
line. Everyone needs to decide where to stand according to both criteria
simultaneously. If you have a stepladder or an upstairs window you could even
take an aerial photograph – this would make a super display.
Back in the classroom, you can recreate the activity
using a paper-based ‘map’ of what you did. This will become a Carroll diagram
of course, and children will have a mental image of what it means.
Scaffolding: any children who are struggling with this
transition would benefit from having counters to represent the different people
in the class, so that they could make the smaller steps by moving them around
before moving onto the final step of writing things down.
A final thought – the writing is (and always should
be) last. Allowing plenty of time for children to discuss and act out their
ideas first will have a far more lasting impression on their learning.
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5. Top Tip
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Tip Number #9:
It sounds
obvious, but when preparing worksheets,
make sure that each exercise starts with easy question and builds in logical
conceptual stages to harder ones. Otherwise the important drill and skill
aspect is over-laborious. It’s great if the last question on the sheet is
harder than the children need to know. Also, try putting in questions that rely
on earlier answers. For example, one question could be 507 ÷ 6 (answer 84.5)
and the next question could be 507 ÷ 84.5 (answer 6!). This encourages children
to ‘look back and use previous answers’ and adds variety and interest for more
able pupils. Also, in this particular example, it helps build understanding of
division.
For 99 more
top tips, click here:
http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/products.asp#2
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6. Einstein says!
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I heard this
on a CD about something called ‘Mega-Learning’. A bit off-the-wall, but then
this quote hit me and I knew I had to share it with you as it struck a chord.
Over to Albert:
“Imagination is more important than
knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world,
stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
Yes indeed.
But is this a threat to our current teaching philosophy, or an opportunity, I
wonder?
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7. Book Review
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As I
mentioned last month, the ever-splendid Mrs. J bought me a number of popular
maths books for Christmas, and I promised to review them as I completed each
one. This month it is the turn of Marcus
du Sautoy’s new book, The Music of The
Primes.
I must start
by admitting that some of the maths in this book is beyond me. Nevertheless,
this has not prevented me from being absolutely riveted by it. Marcus Du Sautoy is a well-known populariser
of mathematics, and this book is his attempt to bring to the public at large
the wonderful world of Prime Numbers. In a very skilful way, Professor Du Sautoy weaves the very human story of man’s fascination
with prime numbers in a roughly chronological way, but it is a real
page-turner. The central premise of the book is the Riemann Hypothesis, too
involved to describe here. I learnt lots, including that a ‘Theory’ is a
‘hypothesis’ until it has been proved! Who would enjoy this book? I think a
number of different people – those who enjoy a good voyage of discovery, for
that is what this book is. Those who enjoy the human
side of scientific research would also enjoy this book, as would those who,
like me, share a love of all things mathematical.
To be
honest, I haven’t even finished this yet, as I have been busy writing and
travelling, but I expect to do so very soon. Another book next month!
I hope that your
term has started well. See you in March.
AJ x
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