Task Centre News

November 2002

• New Tasks
  Two new tasks have been added to the catalogue.

  Task 223, Cat and Mouse, is a board game (2 different full colour boards supplied) which pits a mouse after cheese against a cat after the mouse. The investigation is about the event that is more likely. The cat catching the mouse, or the mouse eating the cheese.

  Task 224, Matching Faces, offers a story shell of a teacher who randomly matches a group of student names and faces. What is the expected number of correct matches? Cartoon faces are provided.

  These two tasks have been added to the Task Catalogue in the Document link on the left.

• People With News
  Tasmania
  Helen Haines from Flinders Island in Bass Strait is an ardent Task Centre/Maths300 user. We have had several notes from Helen over the years. Here is her latest. Perhaps Helen's use of the tasks has contributed to this great result.

  (We) had some wonderful results from the recent Australian Mathematics Competitions - one with a High Distinction (she is in the top 1% of the state!!.) Not bad for a little old high school with only 40 secondary students!!

  Scotland
  Gerry Harkins has also written to us in the past about his enthusiasm for tasks. Lately he has taken his sharing further by presenting a session at the Scottish Mathematical Conference on his experiences as an exchange teacher in Australia. As a result of the session he has been asked to submit an article to the SMC journal. We wish him well with the paper and reproduce here, with permission, the paragraph that relates the moment Gerry realised the learning value of tasks.

  I experienced (task centres) for myself whilst on Teacher Exchange within Victoria, Australia in the year 2000. As I remember with delight my various adventures from Perth to Sydney and from Darwin to Alice Springs to Adelaide, I also recall observing a class of S2 (Year 8) students becoming totally engrossed in their problem solving tasks one Friday afternoon in the Springtime temperatures of 29°C. Period 6 on a Friday has that same gut feeling for everyone around the world and yet these students were enthusiastically involved in their hands on learning and weren't going to stop until they had found the solution to their particular tasks.

  England
  Andy Martin has been tantalising us for a while now with snippets about a local, but nationally funded, project he has been organising using the Home Lending/Library Kit as a core resource. Some of our other task centre schools around the world have also been involved through an 'email buddies' arrangement. The following quotes are from the abstract of Andy's report to the appropriate government department.

  From early January the pupils were taking one task home per fortnight (simply because the school was then operating a two-week timetable). Progress within the task was recorded in a journal and checked on a regular basis. At this time the project had already extended to the G&T Network and the 5 other schools had set up e-mail addresses for 'buddies'. At Thorne the tasks were sent home with the pupils. The network schools all operated differently, including the use of lunchtime or after school clubs and small projects with identified pupils.

  From late February 2002 contact was made with schools in Sweden and Australia. Pupils began to send and receive e-mail, including photograph attachments showing them working on the tasks in their home country.
  ...
  The significant key issue to emerge was that the project did start to change the perceptions of parents towards working with their child. The practical nature of the tasks, and the use of e-mail buddies when the family was stuck, were very motivating. Many parents, although initially reluctant, began to contribute some mathematics in the pupils' journals.

  My experience is that the project is very beneficial in providing challenge for G&T pupils in mathematics. The tasks have been carefully chosen. Each one is the 'tip of an iceberg' and allows the able child to link different aspects of mathematics through a problem solving approach. Parents find the hints from teachers useful and like to respond to many of the challenges.

  You can read the complete abstract in the Do Task Work? link on the left, then select the Thorne Grammar link.

• Maths on the Move
  Our project is 100% professional development. Maths on the Move is a Curriculum Corporation initiative designed to bring that professional development closer to you. Please check the link in the index frame to the left.

• New Resource
  Tricubes have been used in several tasks for many years, eg: Tricubes (#69), Tricube Constructions A (#77), Surface Area With Tricubes (#193). They are now available in class sets and have been added to the Resources link on the left.

Keep smiling,
Doug.

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