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Newspaper design

Students investigate newspaper design to inform the planning and creation of their own newspaper. In particular, students consider ratios and percentages of different types of material in a newspaper (international news, local news, sport, adverts and so on). If appropriate, students could also consider how different graphs suit different purposes.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M6N07
Students perform calculations such as division to calculate fractions, ratios and percentages, when considering coverage of different types of material in a newspaper and in their own newspaper design.

AC9M6N08
Students use estimation strategies while working with fractions and percentages, to approximate solutions when designing their own newspaper.

AC9M6ST03
Students collect and interpret data.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Goos et al., 2011

Goos, M., Dole, S., & Geiger, V. (2011). Improving numeracy education in rural schools: A professional development approach. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23(2), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-011-0008-1

Analyse data and statistics
used in the media

Students engage in internet research to access data and statistics used in the media, comparing articles on the same issue. Encourage students to make judgements, listen to and evaluate each other’s opinions, and use data to support their opinions.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M6ST01
Students analyse information provided by statistics, in both numerical and graphical forms, interpreting and comparing data.

AC9M6ST02
Students look critically at the sources of information, examining arguments and critiquing methods. For example, they may explore whether data was collected from samples that provide a fair representation of the group as a whole and examine the basis for different arguments /points of view on the same topic.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Geiger et al., 2015

Geiger, V., Forgasz, H., & Goos, M. (2015). A critical orientation to numeracy across the curriculum. ZDM, 47(4), 611-624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-014-0648-1

Explore historical events

Students explore a specific historical event, such as a temple’s design and construction. With this example, students analyse the temple’s building plans in terms of patterns and symmetry and consider the meaning of building ratio. Students explore measurements and construction timelines, and may also like to consider comparing this to their estimations of the expected completion time if the building were to be reconstructed with modern building methods and machinery.
When exploring historical events, students will need to extract data from text. When students create a time-line, ask them to consider the scale’s purpose and to justify their choices regarding scale and event placement on the timeline.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M6N01
Students map events and duration on a number (time) line, considering scale and event placement.

AC9M6N02
Students connect the product of a number with itself as square with calculations of area (for example, if considering the square footage of the temple building on the land).

AC9M6M03
Students collect and interpret data to estimate duration and explore how to represent duration and events on a timeline.

AC9M6SP01
Students explore the relationship between cross-sections of the temple and the building’s construction.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of: Bennison (2015b); Ferme (2014)

Bennison, A. (2015b). Supporting teachers to embed numeracy across the curriculum: A sociocultural approach. ZDM, 47(4), 561-573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0706-3

Ferme, E. (2014). What can other areas teach us about numeracy? Australian Mathematics Teacher, 70(4), 28-34. https://albert.aamt.edu.au/Journals/Journals-Index/The-Australian-Mathematics-Teacher/AMT-70-4-28

Imported goods investigation

Students investigate the best options from a range of imported goods. think critically about the origin countries of imported goods, including associated transport options, costs, quality, ethical production, and sustainability when justifying choices.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M6N01
Students use integers to represent quantities in financial contexts and consider potential profit or loss when investigating different costs of imported goods.

AC9M6M03
Students use timetables and compare estimated frequency and duration of the same journey (start/end point) with different modes of transport.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of English (2017)

English, L. D. (2017). Advancing elementary and middle school STEM education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 15(1), 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-017-9802-x

Investigate historical prices and budgeting scenarios

This activity could be adapted to suit your current history planning, by including consideration of the living conditions of people in the context/time of study. Consider changes in circumstances with students, such as wages, working conditions and prices. Students conduct research to create an example budget for then and now, then compare them. Challenge students to explain why it will be necessary to adjust historical prices (taking inflation into account) before making comparisons to today’s prices. Ask students to choose the most appropriate graph type to represent their data.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M6N08
Students work with percentages in the financial context of considering inflation when investigating historical prices and comparing them to current prices.

AC9M6N09
Students conduct internet research to create a budget.

AC9M6ST01
Students compare data sets (historical and current prices, wages and budgets) and create comparative displays to support communication of their findings with others.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Bennison, 2015a; Bennison, 2016

Bennison, A. (2015a). Developing an analytic lens for investigating identity as an embedder-of-numeracy. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 27, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-014-0129-4

Bennison, A. (2016). A sociocultural approach to understanding identity as an embedder-of-numeracy: A case of numeracy and history. European Educational Research Journal, 15(4), 491-502. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904116643327

Design seed dispersal devices

Students design and trial different devices (measure drop height, use fan to create wind, measure distances travelled by each device); 3 to 5 trials per device, to get average distance. Students design devices and compare different designs with consideration of different types of seeds, for example parachute design (think dandelion seed), sail design (think elm seed) and helicopter design (think maple seed). Allow time for improvements to be made to the design of devices – trial again and compare results to previous design(s), to check if ideas for improvement were effective.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M5M01
Students measure design dimensions, drop height, and distances travelled by seeds (from drop point).

AC9M5ST03
Students collect data (measuring distances travelled by seeds) and analyse variations in seed dispersal.

AC9M5P02
Students conduct repeated experiments, observe results and compare to estimates/predictions.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Smith et al., 2019

Smith, C., Fitzallen, N., Watson, J., & Wright, S. (2019). The practice of statistics for STEM: Primary students and pre-service primary teachers exploring variation in seed dispersal. Teaching Science, 65(1), 38-47.

Rollercoaster or amusement
park design

Designs could be physically made (Design and Technologies) or created within an app such as Minecraft (Digital Technologies).

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M5N04
Students work with fractions in the design stage, when given conditions for the design such as “one of the humps being at least 105% higher than the other” (Widjaja et al., 2019, p. 165)

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of:

Herro et al., 2019; Widjaja et al., 2019
Herro, D., Quigley, C., & Cian, H. (2019). The challenges of STEAM instruction: Lessons from the field. Action in Teacher Education, 41(2), 172-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2018.1551159

Widjaja, W., Hubber, P., & Aranda, G. (2019). Potential and challenges in integrating science and mathematics in the classroom through real-world problems: A case of implementing an interdisciplinary approach to STEM. In Hsu, YS., Yeh, YF. (eds) Asia-Pacific STEM teaching practices (pp. 157-171). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0768-7

Design a bridge

Adapt to your local context, if there is a road bridge in the vicinity.
Either provide data on different bridge designs (truss / arch / suspension / cable) or ask students to gather this (advantages and disadvantages of each, potential span, recommended materials, and estimated build costs, based on previous builds of each design). Students will use this data to assist with their design of a new bridge (possible alternative) for your chosen location. Include required parameters for their designs, such as length and number of car lanes.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M6N09
Students research costings and create budgets for bridge construction.

AC9M6SP03
Students investigate the role and properties of strong shapes in the physical structure of bridges.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of: English, 2017

English, L. D. (2017). Advancing elementary and middle school STEM education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 15(1), 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-017-9802-x

Vehicle design

Students could design a solar vehicle (for example, see www.modelsolar.org.au), or consider the design of aeroplanes (for example, see www.nasa.gov).

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M4M01
Students measure vehicle dimensions (especially if they are required to design within specific parameters for the task).
Students measure distances and duration when trialling and comparing models.

AC9M4SP01
Students recognise and represent composite shapes within designs.

AC9M4SP03
Student recognise and represent symmetry within designs.

AC9M4P02
Students conduct repeated experiments; identify and describe variations in results.

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of: Doig & Jobling, 2019; English & King, 2015

Doig, B., & Jobling, W. (2019). Inter-disciplinary mathematics: Old wine in new bottles? In Interdisciplinary mathematics education (pp. 245-255). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11066-6

English, L. D., & King, D. T. (2015). STEM learning through engineering design: Fourth-grade students’ investigations in aerospace. International Journal of STEM education, 2(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-015-0027-7

Examine variation in the production of handmade versus machine made licorice

Students use playdough to make model licorice sticks (suggested 3 pieces each). Aim to mimic dimensions of shop-bought licorice sticks. Students examine variation (in mass) of their own hand-made sticks and collate class data (graph). Repeat with students using Play-DohTM Fun Factory extruders (to mimic process of creating machine-made licorice). Graph variation of class data and compare to first (hand-made) trial, suggesting reasons for differences.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M4M01
Students measure dimensions and mass

AC9M4ST01
Students acquire and represent data

AC9M4ST02
Students compare data distributions and variation in the data

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Watson et al., 2020

Watson, J., Fitzallen, N., English, L., & Wright, S. (2020). Introducing statistical variation in Year 3 in a STEM context: Manufacturing licorice. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 51(3), 354-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2018.1562117

Local transport system design and impact

Adapt this activity to your local context: Students investigate either past, current, or proposed changes to local public transport infrastructure. For example, initiatives set in place to cope with increasing population numbers.

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M5ST01
Students acquire and analyse data to understand the needs of public transport users, and for considering environmental impact

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Attard et al., 2021

Attard, C., Berger, N., & Mackenzie, E. (2021). The positive influence of inquiry-based learning teacher professional learning and industry partnerships on student engagement with STEM. Frontiers in Education (6). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.693221

Plan routes for a new road

Adapt this activity to your local context: Students consider potential need for a bypass, or additional access to a specific location, then design/plan a route for the proposed new road(s).

Mathematics curriculum links:

AC9M5N08
Students consider the effects of rounding the large numbers associated with large distances and budgets

AC9M5M01
Students choose appropriate units of measurement (for example km, m, cm, mm) when considering distances between places and how to represent these on a map

AC9M5SP02
Students use coordinates as part of map work, considering locations and directions

Acknowledgements:

This activity idea was inspired by the work of Goos et al., 2011

Goos, M., Dole, S., & Geiger, V. (2011). Improving numeracy education in rural schools: A professional development approach. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23(2), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-011-0008-1