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How to extend your maths masterminds
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How to extend your maths masterminds
iMaths 16/5/17
Note: iMaths is in its final year and will be discontinued at the end of 2024. If you’re looking for a primary maths resource written for the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0, explore Maths Trek.
Picture this. You’ve just finished an explicit teaching session on improper fractions and have set the class activities to consolidate their learning. While most students are only up to Question 3, there’s one who declares, ‘I’ve finished! What now?’
Sound familiar? Instead of assigning more practice and drills, you want to extend these students in meaningful ways. iMaths offers just that: a variety of activities to keep your masterminds engaged, challenged and excited about maths.
Rise to the challenge
Did you know that each Topic in the iMaths Student Books* includes a Challenge? This handy task is perfect for your fast finishers to dive into after completing the core activities. If they’re so slick that they finish the Challenge early, you can have them form groups and discuss their methods and results.
Equal to the task
Three Differentiation task worksheets are available for every Topic to support, consolidate or extend your students. The Extension tasks, as the name suggests, are designed for students who need a further challenge. They contain activities that require higher-order thinking skills.
Even if you don’t plan on setting a Differentiation Task for every student, it’s a good idea to always have the Extension task handy for those ‘What now?’ moments. Download and print Differentiation tasks from iMaths Online.
It’s still fun and games when someone learns
All students love a good game. Games are the perfect reward to keep students engaged while others are catching up. At iMaths Kids there’s a collection of interactive games, each with an adjustable difficulty level. Extension students in particular will find Number Charge an engaging challenge. Players race against the clock to charge Robot Ray’s battery by answering number problems.
Looking for extension? Inquire within
Included in every iMaths Investigation, the Inquiry tasks are another great tool for extension. Inquiries extend the application of the Topics involved in the Investigations. For example, in Year 4’s Investigation The time of my life, students are challenged to calculate how many times their teacher’s heart has beaten since birth.
Students, take the wheel!
The parameters and scope of Investigations are not set in stone – you can redefine them as you see fit, or even let your students take over. When you do, the results will speak for themselves. Here are two great ways you can adjust an Investigation.
First, students can play with the ‘Using maths’ parameters to increase the difficulty of the maths concepts explored. For example, in the Year 5 Investigation Race around Australia, students could investigate the fastest route across our Great Southern Land using buses and trains instead of airlines.
Second, students can build on the original idea of the Investigation and create an additional project that extends into other areas of the curriculum. For example, they might come up with a branding campaign to go with the Year 4 Investigation Ripper rides.
Note: While mixed-ability groups have their place in Investigations, you may want to set same-ability groups in these cases so your maths whizzes have room to spread their wings.
Whatever your approach to challenging your maths masterminds, it’s important to keep them engaged with variety. So mix it up and let them take charge every now and then.
*Features may differ across year levels.