Wellington Mathematics Association

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Wellington Mathematics Association

• Gifted and Talented Mathematics Initiatives

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Workshop overview

• Senior group
• Year 10 groups
• Explanation of each initiative
• Activities from each
• Resources you can use (Senior Group)
• Modifications and Other G T ideas

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Senior Group

• Joint project with VUW
• (SMSCS (maths/stats) and SPSTE (maths ed)
• Target students -
• Able maths students from schools in greater
  Wellington area
• Sunday afternoon sessions 1 3pm (close to the
  Railway Station)
• Terms 1, 2 and 3

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Senior Group

• Communication with schools
• Signalled at Wellington maths mini-conference and
  in WMA newsletter
• Formal letter inviting schools to nominate
  students
• Update letter to schools (after the end of the
  programme)

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Senior Group

• Dr Dillon Mayhew presented all sessions
• Ian Clark coordinator
• Decisions about which students to invite
• Letters inviting students to take part (all
  signed by VUW HOSs and President, WMA)
• Email network
• Students put into mixed groups
• Afternoon tea provided
• Certificates presented at final session

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Senior Group

• Cost to Schools
• Time to nominate students
• Financial Input (WMA) roughly 2000
• Venue hire 400
• Food 140 (afternoon teas)
• Printing and postage 45
• Presenter 1400 (200 per session)

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Senior Group

• Student feedback
• It was really different and I enjoyed the new
  experience of learning stuff that isnt taught in
  the classroom
• Its thinking maths, not calculating maths.
• It reminded me that math can be really
  interesting, that it is not all as boring as Year
  11 math

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Senior Group

• Student feedback
• Definitely exciting and interesting to have
  learnt all about the different types and forms of
  mathematics that we could explore later on at
  uni
• learning about the more philosophical side of
  mathematics not everything is equations and
  numbers..

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Senior Group

• Euclids proof of infinite primes.
• (Proof by contradiction)
• Suppose that there is only a finite number of
  primes.
• Let the complete list of prime numbers be
• Consider the number W obtained by multiplying all
  these prime numbers together and adding 1. Thus
• Now every number greater one has at least one
  prime factor, so W has a prime factor. Let us
  call it p

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• But if you divide W by any of the primes
  then you get a remainder of 1.
• Therefore none of the primes
  divide W, so p is not on the list
  
• This is a contradiction, as the list
  was supposed to contain all prime
  numbers.
• Since we have reached a contradiction our initial
  assumption must have been false.
• . Thus there is an infinite number of primes

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Senior Group
Activity Geometrical Decompositions

• Can you decompose two squares to form a larger
  square?
• Can you decompose a triangle to form a rectangle?

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Year 10 Groups

• Joint project with VUW
• (SMSCS (maths/stats) and SPSTE (maths ed)
• Target students
• Able maths students from low decile schools
• Repeated one day programme (Porirua and Hutt
  Valley)
• Mathletics membership (sponsored)

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Year 10 Groups

• Communication with schools
• Informal email canvassing interest in the idea
• Formal letter inviting schools to nominate up to
  nine students each
• Copies of letters inviting students to take part
  (all signed by VUW HOSs and President, WMA)
• Update letters to schools (one before and one
  after the day)

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Year 10 Groups

• Venues close to schools
• Families invited to drop by, tea/coffee/bikkies
  ready for them
• Teachers invited to attend but not required
• Students to wear uniform and bring pens and paper
• Lunch and morning tea provided
• Flash name tags

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Year 10 Groups

• Programme
• Welcome and Introductions, Robin Averill Susan
  Hagedorn, VUW
• Maths games Roger Harvey, VUW
• Statistics Count Marieke Boleyn, Statistics New
  Zealand
• Investigations, Robin Averill, VUW
• Fractals, Dr Howard Lukefahr, VUW
• Mathletics, Ian Clark, Wellington College
• Data logging, Andrew Tideswell, President WMA
• Evaluations, Closing session Robin Averill, VUW

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Year 10 Groups

• Cost to Schools
• Time, organising students travel
• Financial Input (WMA) roughly 2500
• Venue hire (300 104)
• Food 450 (morning tea and lunch)
• Printing and postage 60
• Presenters 500 (40 per session per day plus
  teacher release)
• Mathletics memberships 1020

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Year 10 Groups

• Student feedback
• All but 1 would encourage others to attend next
  year
• Overwhelmingly positive about the day
• Games session the favourite
• Slight preference for letters home rather than to
  them through school
• Varied views on inviting families

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Year 10 Groups

• Student feedback
• Most keen to use Mathletics
• Almost all want the venue in their community
• Most common suggested improvement longer time
  for lunch ?

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Year 10 Groups

• Presenter feedback
• Positive about the idea and their involvement
• Happy to be involved again next year

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Year 10 Groups

• Activities
• Probability activity
• Game or investigation

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Modifications and Other G T ideas

• ?
• ?
• ?

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Wellington Mathematics Association

• Gifted and Talented Mathematics Initiatives
• Thank you for coming