Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
MATHS ACTIVITIES FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED
Story Problem Writing
- Gifted students apply their simple math knowledge though the composition of story problems. To enrich the math lessons of gifted students, third grade teachers can simply translate the numerical math problems that the other students complete into story problems before presenting them to the students. While the rest of the pupils determine what 2+2 equals, the gifted student can figure out, "If Tommy has two balls and Sally give him two more, how many does he now have?"Once the student has developed an understanding of how to solve the story problems, the teacher can request that the student translate numeral problems into story problems himself, creating applied math problems that he can solve or could even be presented to classmates.
Math Song
- Talented students can put math to music through the composition of a math song. While other students work to memorize mathematical principles or properties, the gifted students can compose a math ditty that demonstrates their understanding of the math concepts being explored. Encourage the gifted student to use a classic melody or develop his own and write lyrics that contain math information. Allow him to present his original composition to the class or create a digital recording to share with others.
Number Hunt Ordering
- Keep your gifted student on the lookout by engaging her in a number hunt ordering activity. This ongoing activity gives your student something to do while her peers finish their work. Provide the student with print media, scissors, glue and a long sheet of banner paper. Tell her to go through the magazine or newspaper and cut out numbers. Once she has collected an assortment of numbers, ask her to glue them, in order, on her sheet of banner paper. Tell the student to leave room between each number so that she can later add numbers between the original digits. Keep the banner paper in the room and give her time to work on her number collection periodically. By year's end, she will have an impressive collection of ordered numbers.
Working Effectively with
Young Mathematicians with High Potential
What are we trying to encourage?
What sort of mathematics appeals to them?
What would the problems look like?
What thinking are they encouraging?
What kinds of questioning would help?
Mathematical Thinking and Questioning
Exemplifying, Specialising
Give me one or more examples of…
Describe, demonstrate, tell, show, choose, draw, find an example of…
Is … an example of …?
Find a counter-example of…
Are there any special examples of…?
Completing, Deleting, Correcting
What must be added/removed/altered to ensure/allow/contradict?
What can be added/removed/altered without affecting …?
Tell me what’s wrong with …?
What needs to be changed so that…?
Changing, Varying, Reversing, Altering
Change something to see an effect.
What if …?
If this is the answer to a similar question, what was the question?
Can you do this another way?
Which way is the quickest, easiest, …?
Change … in response to imposed constraints
Generalising, Conjecturing
Of what is this a special case?
What happens in general?
Is it always, sometimes, never …?
Describe all possible … as succinctly as you can
What can change and what has to stay the same so that … is still true?
Explaining, Justifying, Verifying, Convincing, Refuting
Explain why …
Give a reason (using or not using…)
How can we be sure that …?
Tell me what is wrong with …
Is it ever false/always true that …?
How is … used in …?
Explain role or use of …
Convince me that …
Comparing, Sorting, Organising
What’s the same and what’s different about …?
Sort the following according to …
Is it or is it not …?
Gifted Education is Good Education for Everyone
“A programme that helps students develop their mathematical abilities to the fullest may allow them to move faster than others in the class to avoid deadly repetition of material that they have already mastered. Such a programme may also introduce them to topics that others might not study but, most important, it introduces pupils to the joys and frustrations of thinking deeply about a range of original, open-ended, pr complex problems that encourage them to respond creatively in ways that are original, fluent, flexible and elegant.”
L. J. Sheffield, Developing Mathematically Promising Students, 1999.
Consider your approach to enrichment, extension and acceleration and the balance you will take.
Productive environments:
- Learner centred rather than teacher or content centred
Independence - Open to new ideas innovations, explorations
- Acceptance rather than judgement
- Complexity rather than simplicity
- Varied groupings
- Flexibility rather than too rigid a structure
- Students encouraged to be mentally agile
- Instructions given at a fast pace
- Focussed on concepts rather than procedures
- Fostering creativity
Productive communications:
- Can you explain why?
- Can you see patterns?
- How do you know this is the answer?
- Can you explain why this is correct to someone else?
- Can you think of a problem that is similar?
In preparation:
- Classroom culture
- Using open problems
- Access to a wide range of resources (online and paper based)– sharing with colleagues
- Using your able pupils to support other children
- Working independently or in small groups
- Encourage self assessment and selection of materials
- Make use of online communities
- Enjoy the unpredictable –relax.
Other focuses:
- Preparation for competitions (
- Local Master classes - build on them don’t let the experience pass the pupils and you by. Talk about what they have done with the class and this might stimulate new ideas for them to pursue.
- Share resources with other staff - think about using similar problems with children in different year groups – coming together to work on a problem during the Numeracy hour.
- Preparing extension activities as a natural part of lesson planning using sites like NRICH for ideas.
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