Mathematics Excursion

Mathscraft

On Thursday March 28th, Luca Emmerson(Year 5), Akshat Dev(Year 7), Nicholas Cacayorin (Year 9) and I went to Woodville High School. We were going on a mathematics excursion, and the afternoon consisted of fun, thinking and having a great time with other like-minded students interested in Mathematics. The Mathematics that we did wasn’t like what is done in class, it wasn’t about getting the right answer, it was about talking about how to solve problems and generalizing the questions in a way very different to Mathematics in class. Our first question when we arrived was about working out whether a game was fair. It was called Odds and Evens.

A set of numbered balls was used for a game. To play the game, the balls are mixed up and  two balls are randomly picked out together. The two balls are added together and if the sum  is even you win, odd you lose. Each table of students was joined by a mathematician, who would listen to the boys’ discussions and question them about the reasons for their choices and each of the boys willingly contributed with everyone their ideas.

In the second problem the boys were looking for patterns and trying to generalize, Nicholas and Akshat worked together on developing an algebraic approach while Luca worked on a geometric approach which he is shown presenting to all groups below. Below are the boys’ reflections on the day.

Miss Valerie Frost

Senior Teacher

Students at Mathcraft

Thank you for letting me go to Mathcraft. I enjoyed it immensely and I've learnt quite a bit. My favourite part of the day was socialising with others. We departed from school at 12:30 and arrived at Woodville High School at 12:50pm . After we signed in, we went and started the first question and met our mathematician. One of the more interesting activities that day was coming up with different strategies to solve cubed numbers using plastic cubes. After that, we came back to Blackfriars where our parents waited for us. 

Luca Emmerson

On Thursday afternoon, Miss Frost, Nicholas, Luca and I went on an excursion to Woodville High School for Mathscraft. In Mathscraft we had to solve three problems as a group and our group got all the answers correct. It was a challenging and engaging activity to take part in. I met some of my old friends there. I would love to go there next time.

Thanks, Miss Frost for the opportunity!

Akshat Dev