MATHEMATICS

Monash University

Last Friday we had the privilege of hosting first-year Monash University students and mathematics experts and Education Lecturers at Monash University, Ann Downton and Jill Cheeseman. 

The Foundation Learning Centre was a buzz with excitement!  The first-year university students had the opportunity to practice conducting the Mathematics Assessment Interview. The Foundation students were the perfect candidates as they already have expereince in the maths interview process.

Did you know that maths is all around you?

You can explore maths while doing daily activities to help develop your children’s maths and numeracy skills. Check out these ideas collated by The Mathematical Association of Victoria.

During the holidays...

Children can:

• Collect important dates and mark them on a calendar
• Time how long it takes to travel to school
• Estimate how far you’ve travelled, the distance to your destination, and how long it is going to take
• Find the arrival time: e.g. If it is 4:38 pm now and it will take us 15 minutes to get there
• Enter dates into a digital calendar: e.g., identify the day of the week, the time between dates and set reminders
• Help you to make a travel plan using timetables
• Read the public transport maps to follow along with each stop

Are we there yet?

When driving, spot number plates with the number zero on them. Change the number to 1 when they have spotted five car number plates with the number zero. Work their way up to the number 9. Spot number plates with digits that equal 10, 20, 55, 17 using different operations (+ – x ÷ ).

Number plates can provide great opportunities for engaging in numerate talk.