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Mathematical folktales: which is your favourite?

The following short activity allows young pupils to get to know their partners and each other at the beginning of their new eTwinning project. Through mathematical folktales, young pupils are introduced to the pedagogical subject matter which will encompass their overall eTwinning project in a fun and easy way which combines a number of subject areas, not only maths. As an ice breaker activity, pupils learn to communicate and feel at ease with their new friends in other countries.

 

Age Group:      5 - 9 years
Level:              Easy
Duration:         2 weeks
ICT tools:        TwinSpace, Audacity-web authoring tools, Camstudio (Open Source video-streaming software)
 
 
Pedagogical Objectives
 
Developing ICT and communication skills, fostering children's mathematical development by providing environments rich in language where thinking is encouraged, uniqueness is valued and exploration is supported.
 
Process
 
Activity 1          Becoming visible
 
Pupils in both participating groups provide information about themselves (e.g., writing a paper, drawing a picture, making a video) and briefly introduce their favourite mathematical folktales. The pupils then upload their work in the TwinSpace.
 
Teachers help, guide and monitor students in this first introductory task. They then organise a forum and chat session so that pupils’ can present and discuss their work.
 
Activity 2         Working together
 
Step 1:   Learning about other mathematical folktales
 
Pupils get to know each other and select their favourite folktales, they then vote for their favourites.
 
Teachers highlight the mathematical aspects of each folktale in a simple way (e.g., Rounding up camels is about ‘numerical properties’). For older pupils, teachers can try more in-depth discussions on prime numbers and the correspondence between decimals and fractions (e.g., in One grain of rice, the group can discuss the concept of ‘powers’).
 
Step 2: Forum discussions and activities
 
Pupils collaborate in set group to create a blog, video, podcast or web page. They discuss first using a forum and then show and share the results of their work together about their selected folktale. Groups of 3 to 4 students usually work best.
 
Teachers prepare activity sheets regarding mathematical questions on the introduced stories, monitor discussions and provide students with the tools and software they need.
 
Outcomes
 
Pupils have a look at what their peers have done, discuss results and lessons learned and come up with new project ideas and tasks.
 
Teachers supervise special activities and encourage pupils to discuss amongst each other and come up with their own ideas, together, for further project tasks and topics.
 
 
Tips
 
Although this module focuses on maths, it can be used in other subject areas, using other non-mathematical folktales.
 
The activity is part of two longer project kits:
  • Digital Interactive mathematics dealing with the use of the digital whiteboard in maths school lessons
  • From Luca Pacioli to Evariste Galois which explores the history of Europe through the lives and research of famous European algebraists.
 
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  • Web Editor: Palmira Ronchi
  • Published: 18.09.2008
  • Last changed: 12.10.2011
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