GCSE. Pamela Yems Friday Afternoon. Mathematics RESOURCE PACK

Transcription

1 GCSE Pamela Yems Friday Afternoon Mathematics RESOURCE PACK

2 Introduction Why use these activities? First and foremost, these activities encourage students to express their ideas, and expose their misconceptions, which the teacher can then gently correct. Second, the activities are fun. Managing group work and keeping students on task is no easy undertaking. These activities engage and enthuse students, creating situations that allow the teacher to work alongside students, rather than be the focus at the front of the class. Although students see many of these activities as games, their potential for knowledge building is powerful. These activities make learning active rather than passive, which has been advocated by many current educational gurus, such as Geoff Petty and Robert Powell. Many educational theorists favour formative learning. Students need to be tested regularly in order to build confidence, highlight areas of weakness and allow for reflection and discussion of topics studied in class. These activities give direct feedback to students on their level of understanding of key terms and concepts. Students work best using a variety of different learning styles. The work of theorists such as Howard Gardner tells us that revision activities should be varied, allowing students to work in small groups (matching, triominoes, jigsaws, dominoes), whole class groups (bingo, play your cards right, dominoes) and individually (crosswords, codewords). This taps into linguistic, logical, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence traits. Students possess all these intelligences, and more, to different degrees. If they only use one learning style, for example answering exam-style questions, this fails to tap into their multiple intelligences. Bloom s taxonomy implies that education that encourages higher skills of synthesis and evaluation develops much deeper learning than occurs with the recitation of basic knowledge. Constructivist teachers should allow students to apply their learning, and many exercises in this resource pack engage the brain in a much better way than recall alone does. For example, triominoes and ranking/sorting exercises encourage students to discuss in small groups why specific topics can be linked or ranked in a particular way. This prepares students to make judgements and decisions, which is necessary for successful GCSE level study. Of course, terminology and specific knowledge are vital all the activities in this pack aim to reinforce key terms, formulae and theoretical concepts, so the teacher and student can check continually that progression is taking place. Ofsted expects students to understand and show confidence in using relevant terminology and concepts. The activities in this pack seek to reinforce and build on prior learning this is very useful for teachers and gives a confidence boost to students.

3 Introduction How to use this pack Dominoes There are several uses for these cards. Whole-class activity Photocopy one set of dominoes onto card. Each domino has a question on one half and an answer (to another question) on the other half. Cut out the dominoes and give one or more to each student. One student starts by reading out the question on his or her domino; the other students listen and read out their answer if they think it is the correct one. The student who has read the correct answer then reads the question from the same domino and the game continues until every student has answered. The game will finish with the person who read their question first. If there are blank faces after a particular question, you can clarify it or give the correct answer so that the game will continue with each domino card being followed by the next one in the correct sequence. You can check answers by looking at the teacher answer sheet, which shows the correct sequence. Pair matching Photocopy and cut out several sets of dominoes and then cut them into separate questions and answers. Divide students into groups of two or three, give each group a set of dominoes and ask them to match each answer to the correct question. Time the exercise and reward the group that finishes first. An alternative method is to give each group a complete set of dominoes and ask them to make a chain of connected dominoes. See which group finishes first. Matching, ranking and sorting exercises Photocopy several sets of a matching exercise onto card and cut them up. In groups of two or three, students should match each tinted card to its white partner (some cards may have several partners, which will generate discussion). Students could then rank their pairs, e.g. fractions in order of size. Students should be encouraged to justify their matches, as this leads to deeper thought and learning. The activities have an equal number of pairs, which means that when a group of students have finished and sit back, they are never sure that their solution is correct until the exercise is concluded by the teacher. You could differentiate this activity by giving less-able students the simpler cards only, which are usually at the beginning of the activity. Jigsaws Photocopy several sets of jigsaws onto card and cut them out, so that there is a set for each pair/small group of students to use. These come in a variety of shapes, and if students cannot match a particular pair, they can work around that problem with other answers. The final jigsaw is self-checking, because incorrect matching will result in the shape not being completed. Students should work in small groups, agreeing each

4 Introduction match, to complete the jigsaw. The process of discussing each match is the strength of the activity. Some jigsaws have no terms along their outside edge, which can help to make the task easier; other have distractor terms along the edges to make the activity more challenging. Students may wish to stick the completed jigsaws onto a sheet of paper to keep or to form part of a wall display. Triominoes Photocopy several sets of triominoes onto card and cut them out. In pairs, students should be given the central black triangles and outer triangles separately, and asked to match three outer triangles to each of the relevant central topics (as on the original templates). Play your cards right Photocopy the cards and cut them out. Each student needs a set of four cards. Ask students to stand up, holding their cards. Read out the first definition students must then quickly hold up the most appropriate card for the definition. Students who hold up a wrong answer must sit down. The game continues until only one person is standing this student has won and could be rewarded with a small prize (come prepared with a chocolate bar). It is important that students who have sat down continue to hold up their cards as the activity is designed to test the understanding of the whole group. Bingo Photocopy the bingo card and give one to each student. Ask students to select answers from the list provided to fill their card. Read out the questions randomly from the list provided, and ask students to listen carefully and cross off each answer when they think it applies. When all the answers on their card have been crossed off, students should shout bingo! The first student to shout out should read out the answers on his or her card so you can check they were answered correctly. This game helps students to learn vocabulary, concentrate on terminology, improve their mental mathematical agility, and have fun at the same time. Come prepared with a prize for the winner if you feel generous. Crosswords Photocopy a class set and give out individually to test understanding. Crosswords are particularly good at the start of a lesson because punctual students are rewarded by completing theirs first. You might need to walk around and see which questions are creating difficulties, giving subtle clues when needed. Display the answer grid on a data projector, photocopy onto an OHT, or ask students to read out their own answers and check them. Codewords For this individual activity you should photocopy a class set, or enough copies for students to work in pairs. Similar to crosswords, codewords can be good to use at the

5 Introduction start of a lesson. The answers are self-revealing as a mathematical word is produced a useful follow-up activity is to ask the class for definitions or examples of each type of number. Timing of activities It is difficult to provide times here, as it depends on whether you decide to intervene. For example, you might stop a dominoes activity whenever someone has difficulty and explain the key concept in depth to the whole class. Naturally, this will lengthen timings from the rough guidelines given below. Activity Bingo Codewords Crosswords Dominoes Matching Play your cards right Ranking/sorting Triominoes Jigsaws Timing 0 minutes 0 minutes (plus minutes to go through the answers) 0 minutes (plus minutes to go through the answers) 0 0 minutes, depending on the complexity of the activity 0 minutes (plus 0 minutes to go through the answers) 0 minutes 0 minutes (plus minutes to go through the answers) 0 minutes (plus minutes to go through the answers) 0 minutes depending on the complexity of the activity (this activity is self-checking) Take the time to pick up on any problems your students have. These activities can highlight areas of knowledge that students are lacking it is up to you to use the time wisely. When to use the activities Most of these activities can be used at the start, middle or end of a lesson. For example, crosswords and codewords are useful at the start of a lesson, giving students something to do while latecomers arrive. A more interactive activity, such as play your cards right, can add variation in the middle of a long theoretical session. The activities are also useful for revisiting a particular module or topic. Using a calculator Most of the activities have been designed to be used without a calculator in order to sharpen students mental skills. However, one means of differentiating some of the activities would be to allow the use of a calculator for less-confident students.

6 Contents and specification coverage Although examination tiers are given, they are only intended as a guide. In particular, activities labelled Foundation will also be of benefit to Higher tier students, acting as revision of prior knowledge when beginning an area of study. Topic Page(s) Grades AQA Edexcel OCR Fractions, decimals and percentages Foundation Bingo: Percentages 0 E Foundation Crossword: Fractions of amounts E Foundation Dominoes: Addition and subtraction of fractions E C Higher Jigsaw: Fractions and decimals 8 D B Foundation Matching and Ranking: Identifying and ordering fractions G F Higher Triominoes: Percentages 8 C A Rounding and approximations Foundation Bingo: Rounding to the nearest 0, 00, 000 F Foundation Crossword: Rounding G F Foundation Dominoes: Estimating 0 G E Higher Jigsaw: Significant figures D B Expressions, equations and inequalities Foundation Bingo: Simplifying algebraic expressions E C Higher Crossword: Factorisation 8 A A * Foundation Dominoes: Collecting like terms G E Foundation Jigsaw: Solving equations E D Higher Jigsaw: Solving inequalities C B Foundation/Higher Triominoes: Solving equations 8 E C Measures Foundation Bingo: Units of measure F Foundation Dominoes: Speed, distance and time E C Foundation Jigsaw: Metric measures 0 F Foundation Matching: Areas of D shapes 8 G D Higher Matching: Circles and sectors 8 D A Higher Play Your Cards Right: Dimensional analysis 8 0 B

7 Contents and specification coverage Topic Page(s) Grades AQA Edexcel OCR Number properties Foundation Bingo: Factors, multiples and primes G D Foundation Codeword: Negative numbers F E Foundation Crossword: Squares and cubes G F Higher Dominoes: Indices 00 C A * Foundation/Higher Jigsaw: Standard form 0 0 C B Higher Matching and Ranking: Simplifying surds 0 0 A A * Angle properties Foundation Bingo: Angle definitions F Foundation Crossword: Angles F C Foundation Dominoes: Angles F Higher Dominoes: Circle properties 0 B A * Foundation Matching: Angle facts 0 F C Teacher answers Page(s) Crosswords Codewords 8

8 Fractions, decimals and percentages Foundation Bingo: Percentages Foundation Crossword: Fractions of amounts Foundation Dominoes: Addition and subtraction of fractions Higher Jigsaw: Fractions and decimals Foundation Matching and Ranking: Identifying and ordering fractions Higher Triominoes: Percentages

9 Foundation Bingo: Percentages.0.0 0p 80p.0 0p p p 80p.0 0p p.0.0 0

10 Foundation Bingo: Percentages Teacher questions and answers Although students should be able to calculate percentages without a calculator, you could allow the use of a calculator to differentiate the activity. Easy Moderate Hard 0% of.0 0% of.0.p 0% of.0 % of.0 0% of.00 % of 80.80p % of.0p % of.0p % of.0 % of.0 0% of.0 % of 8.00.% of 0.0.% of.0.% of 8 8.0

11 Foundation Crossword: Fractions of amounts 8 0 Across of 80 of 0 of 0 0 of of of 0 0 of 0 0 of Down of 8 of 00 0 of 8 of 0 8 of of of 0

12 Foundation Dominoes: Addition and subtraction of fractions

16 Foundation Dominoes: Addition and subtraction of fractions Teacher answers A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A Q - + A Q A Q A Q

17 Higher Jigsaw: Fractions and decimals 0. & 0.& 0.0& 8 0.& 0. & & 0.& & & 8