Mathematics @ GEC

Maths in Action - Independent Learning

Students in 7A have been experiencing independent learning through working on investigation tasks in pairs or in groups, quite a few times this year. Last week 7G also took part in experiencing working collaboratively on investigation tasks. 

Students were given a task to solve by working in pairs (or in groups of 5 sometimes when they were in lockdown) and were asked to communicate their findings through writing.  Students enjoyed working in groups or in pairs and they liked the idea that some open ended tasks have multiple answers.  The majority of the time was spent on exploring the task to find a solution and finally some of them presented their findings to the class. The students were also given hints and prompts to make changes in their approach and in the way they think.

Here are some work samples from one of such tasks: 

Though there were mixed responses from students when asked about how they found these tasks, the majority of them understood the importance of the nature of these investigation tasks.

Here is some positive feedback from students. The response that stands out for me is that they like how a problem can have multiple answers.

What worked well?

• We all kind of just got straight to work and got it done and we put all of our ideas in and it turned out pretty good even if some of them were wrong or already there, we were also very good at all pitching in.. :)
• Being able to give each other ideas.
• We all had a go at finding the resolution to the problem.
• That we all knew what to do and how to do it
• The way we communicated
• Teamwork
• What worked well was that we found a lot of solutions 

What did you like about this task?

• I like how it was a bit challenging and how I really had to think about what I was going to answer and I also liked how there were multiple answers.
• Being able to work together
• I liked that I had never done something like this and that there was more than one solution.
• That there were multiple answers
• It was easy enough 
• It was different from anything I did and doing problem solving is pretty fun in my opinion. I wouldn't mind doing this more in in the future
• We got to work in teams and it was a fun and challenging task 

To finish off, here is a principle that highlights one of the practices that supports growth mindset among students.

Growth Mindset and Determination:  “Everyone should have the opportunity to grapple with problems that they do not yet know how to solve.” (source: www.nrich.maths.org)

Arivu Kumaran

Maths Learning Area Leader