Maths News

Many of our students have been completing Maths Enrichment activities over the past few weeks and we wanted to recognise some great achievements.

BEBRAS Competition

During Weeks 1 and 2, many of our students participated in the BEBRAS competition which is a group competition where students work together to solve algorithmic and problem solving questions using their Maths skills. Ms Pegram’s Year 9 Extension class all participated, as well as students from classes from Year 7 through to Year 12.

Congratulations to all the students who were involved, and we have some students receiving some special awards:

·       Alexander Hatzimihail, Henry Kaiser and Monty Oliver scored a High Distinction for their group work

·       Elea Angelo, Erik Treloar and Ari Van Holsteyn also scored a High Distinction for their group work

·       Ella Aila and April Cousins scored a Distinction for their group work

Around 20 students completed the CAT (Computational Algorithmic Thinking) competition this week, and we also have the AMC (Australian Mathematics Competition) early in Term 3 to look forward to.

Dr Laura’s Visit

During the last week of term, St Philip’s were lucky to have a visit from Dr Laura Tuohilampi from the University of New South Wales for the week.  

She loves research into Maths education and is very passionate about engaging students in activities that get them thinking outside the square.  She did some great puzzles and problem solving work with Ms Bernardino’s Year 7 class, and really got them all thinking!  She attended some presentations from our Year 11 Specialist Maths class and Maths Methods classes, Maths Help, worked with the boarders during Prep on some Maths games and activities, and loved seeing our school and town!  It was a pleasure to have her visit and we hope that she visits us again soon.

Enrichment

Many of our students are currently participating in Maths Enrichment activities.  We have Year 7, 8 and 9 students completing the Maths Challenge booklets through the Australian Mathematics Trust to complement their work in their classrooms, and we have our Year 9 class with Ms Pegram completing the Year 10 Advanced course.  They have just finished their measurement projects looking at wasted space in packaging of tennis balls, and it was great to see the work that they were doing with their open ended learning.  We have many Year 10 students completing their first semester of Year 11 Maths Methods and many of our Year 11 and 12 students are currently finishing off designing their own roller coasters using their knowledge of calculus and technology.

Please touch base with your child’s Maths teacher or myself if you wanted to discuss any enrichment opportunities further.