Working with Photos
This activity from Cre8ate maths develops understanding of enlargement. Students work in groups and, intuitively, sort sets of photos to identify those which have been enlarged from an original image. They then justify their decisions and share their explanations with the rest of the class. Photo sets three and four may cause…
Minimise or Supersize
In this resource from Cre8ate maths, students critically compare nutritional measures and calculate their daily energy requirements. Initially students fill in the worksheet Can we eat what we like, to prompt a whole class discussion about the consequences of a bad diet. They then use the Sugar, salt and fat worksheet, to explore…
Keeping Baby Warm
This Cre8ate maths activity investigates the ratio of surface area to volume in adults and babies and explains why we keep babies wrapped up in winter. To calculate surface area and volume students make scale models of a baby and an adult. The models may be simple in nature, such as a single cuboid, or a more complex model involving…
Rigid Structures
This activity from Cre8ate maths looks at the exciting mathematics connected with the regeneration going on in our cities. The three activities are based around the construction of rigid structures and provide opportunities for practical work and mathematical problem solving. Finding rigidity introduces students to the principle…
Hair and Beauty
This resource from Cre8ate maths is designed to help students develop their understanding of the data handling cycle. Initially students will match 14 questions with their answers, prompting discussion as some are not relevant to the topic and others could have multiple answers, but there is only one way to complete the task so…
Growing More
This rich task from Cre8ate introduces students to a Latin Square, where each row and each column has all the variables once and only once. Students may be aware of Sudoku puzzles which are based on this scenario. They are challenged to find 12 different designs which satisfy the stated conditions for planting three types of rhubarb.…
Rabbits
In this Cre8ate maths activity students learn that a simulation is a model of a real situation. Data for the birth rate of rabbits is provided and is used by students to develop their own model to simulate the breeding of rabbits in a field and consider the likely damage to the farmer’s crop. Initially this is done as a recording…
Attracting the Customer
This set of Cre8ate maths activities explores three ways in which retailers and product manufacturers may seek to persuade customers to either buy more of their product or encourage customer loyalty. In ‘Prize draw’ students explore sequences and series. ‘Offers’ involves money calculations and comparison…
5/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Group work
Crystal Shapes 2
This activity from Cre8ate maths explores Platonic solids, which are formed from regular polygons where all their faces are identical and all their vertices are identical too. Students are told that there are only five platonic solids, which they can build using triangles, squares and pentagons. Completing the Matching shapes…
Vedic Maths 2
This set of Cre8ate maths activities requires pupils to practice number operations, to search for pattern in number and to work and deepen with their arithmetic understandings. In Vedic multiplication, these understandings are developed into simple algebra. This topic follows on from Vedic maths one and explores the ancient laws…
Stretchiness
This Cre8ate maths activity draws on measuring stretchiness which involves the collection of real data, calculating percentages and experimental design. This resource models one way in which engineers use their knowledge of mathematics to investigate the properties of materials. Here students investigate the stretchiness of jelly…
- 5/5
- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Teacher guidance
Ferries
This Cre8ate maths activity allows the opportunity to discuss the modelling function of mathematics. The tasks allow students to develop their own strategies and to consider the idea of an ‘efficient’ algorithm. In addition, 'First fit and full bins' activity involves work on ratio and pie charts.
Islamic Design
This Cre8ate maths activity focuses on reflection and thinking about translation or rotation. It also uses co-ordinates to develop a non-standard transformation. The topic provides rich opportunities for cross curricular work and can also provide the focus for off-site activities.
- 4/5
- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Activity sheet
Nappy Changing Challenge
The Nappy Changing Challenge from Cre8ate maths provides real data about students for analysis. They undertake a timed, practical, exercise of folding a towelling nappy and putting it onto a toy baby doll. Throughout the task students complete a form for the Nappy challenge and record their completed data in an excel file. The…
Healthy Childhood
In this resource from Cre8ate maths students have the opportunity to work with complex charts, used by professionals who monitor the physical development of children. The activities, for students to undertake, include tasks such as plotting data onto charts and reading information from charts, then matching the data with written…
- 4/5
- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Activity sheet
Crystal Shapes 1
This activity from Cre8ate maths explores the rotational symmetry of carefully chosen crystals. Initially students work with plain and coloured nets of cubes may use trial and improvement methods to find different possible rotations of symmetry, before exploring ways to be systematic in their investigation. For example, they might…
More Miles for Your Money
Based on information and guides provided by the Department of Transport, this Cre8ate maths activity introduces the cost benefits of improving the aerodynamics of the cab section of a truck. Mathematical connections involve using calculators and spreadsheets to work on conversions and percentages in the context of a complex multi-step…
Pixel Perfection
This investigation from Cre8ate maths involves students in finding the best size screen for a television. If you have a large flat screen and view a standard analogue or digital picture the individual pixels are visible if you are sitting too close to the screen. Working in small groups of 3 or 4, students measure the pixel density…
Boxes and Bottles
Boxes and bottles come in all shapes and sizes. These Cre8ate maths activities explore some of the mathematics behind packaging decisions taken by manufacturers, they provide a platform for students to make conjectures and find efficient ways of recording results to justify claims they have made. In Boxing stock cubes students…
Working for Efficiency
This Cre8ate maths topic looks at simplified versions of three different network problems that are encountered in practical logistical planning. Paper rounds offers the opportunity for reasoning and proof as the arguments needed to establish Euler's theorem are within their grasp. It also, along with Cable connections and…