Maths champs find their way
Schools
Rostrevor College Year 1 students are heading in the right direction after their mapping project won them first prize in the Mathematics and Numeracy Challenge conducted by the Primary Mathematics Association.
Their two-month mapping skills investigation was entered in the challenge, which attracts a large number of entries from primary schools around the State annually.
Rostrevor Year 1 teacher Caitlin McManus said her class’s topic ‘Maps – here, there, where?’ enabled the young navigators to examine the many ways numeracy and mathematics were used in mapping, as well as many different types of maps.
“Even though they are growing up in the digital age of Google and Siri, these children are learning that maps, in many different forms, remain relevant and that mapping skills are still as important today as they have been in the past,” she said.
Seven-year-old Emmanuel said he and his 13 classmates were very happy and proud to win the State title for their year level.
“Maps tell us a lot about the world around us,” he said. We have been looking at boat maps, road maps, the school map and, even older maps.
“If you don’t know where you’re going and you’ve got a map, it’s good to use because it can help you get out of the place you’re in and get to where you want to go.
“We drew our own picture maps and then drew number lines on two sides and pretended we were hiding something on that map and marked the hiding spot with an ‘X’.
“I hid a pencil in the classroom and marked the hiding place with an ‘X’ and my friend had to find it using the coordinates.
“Once, we went around the school and we used coordinates to get to places like the big oval that the seniors are on.
“It was like getting a clue to a puzzle and then you had to work it out. It was hard, but we all did it together. It taught us that numbers and maths are very helpful in the world.”
The 14 young mathematicians and their families joined a packed Festival Function Centre at Findon on November 1 to receive their prize.
Their slightly older Rostrevor peers in Year 6 also received a High Commendation for their mathematical study into who was most likely to win the AFL grand final using statistics and probability.
Primary Mathematics Association spokeswoman Deb Proud said the Challenge was an “amazing learning event” and that the Rostrevor students showed a curiosity and passion for mathematics worthy of praise.
Some of the Year 1 students from the winning team.
Comments
Show comments Hide comments