taskdescription.docVIP

Task Description Using their birth year (e.g. 1996) students create expressions using a variety of operations on the digits(1, 9, 9, 6) to fill the boxes for each “date” on a calendar month. This activity is well suited to classes with a wide range of student abilities, and is excellent for use during a focus on operations. Length of Task In the trial, this activity took students around 100 minutes to complete. Materials One blank calendar per student Key Mathematical Concepts Order of operations (BODMAS) Application of a variety of operations (including addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, indices, square root, and any others deemed appropriate given students’ skill level) to create expressions with a known answer. Using the Activity Whole group Instructions Explain the instructions to the class as a whole group. These are: Using their birth year (e.g. 1996) students are required to create expressions using each digit of that year (1, 9, 9, 6) to attempt to fill the boxes for each date on a calendar month. For example, ‘1 + 9 + 9 + 6’ would be written in the 25 date box. Students can use any of the basic operations (+, -, x, ÷) and can manipulate numbers by creating decimals, fractions, squaring numbers (or other indices from their birth year), and square rooting numbers. Students are also allowed to round numbers off and can use brackets to control the order of operations used. Each birth years digit must be used once in every calculation. To make the activity more achievable, the number ‘0’ can be used in any calculation. Work through some examples (on the teachers birth year) with the class as a group, prior to handing out the blank calendars for students to complete individually (including the use of brackets). For example, the teacher could create expressions for 1963 as: (1 x 9) + (9 ÷ 3) = 12 1 x (9 + 9) – 3 = 15 (9 x 3) + 1 - 9 = 18  Depending on the skill level of the class, deliberate inclusion of indices and square roots m