Hi everyone,
If I may be permitted to follow on from Laura’s blog about our approach to working with Mathematics at IFS, as Laura wrote: “Where applicable, Mathematics will be incorporated into our projects so that our students have real world applications of Mathematical concepts.”
At the present time our year 7 & 8 students are completing a Science Module, at the same time so are our year 9 & 10 students, different content – of course. The next module for both groups is Mathematics. The content fits with the Board Of Studies curriculum requirements for the two Stages and is designed to help the student to complete the final tasks for their respective Projects.
The Stage 4 Project is ‘Designing a Water Adventure Park’; the Stage 5 Project is to ‘Design a Multifunction Sports Facility’. The three curriculum based modules we chose for these Projects are – Geography, which was completed last week; Science, which the students will finish at the end of this week; and as I’ve already mentioned – Maths. The branches of Mathematics we will be specifically working with for this module are: Geometry which is needed for the design work, Number, Percentages, Decimal Fractions and Money/Finances leading to Commercial Mathematics – Loans, Interest Rates, Building Costs etc, this is will help in the creation of a budget for construction.
In regard to Mathematics, it’s been my experience over the years that when you speak with students about their likes and dislikes at college, a good number of them will say that they don’t like Maths, the next remark is inevitably that they ‘can’t do Maths’. – Building a real connection to Mathematics is vital if there’s to be a productive relationship with the subject for students.
Personally I love Maths – always have! In putting together this module, I’ve endeavoured to make it as interesting as I possibly could, my intention is to engage our students in a practical way. – Fingers crossed.
Regards,
Rodney
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