#Taskmaster - Estimate of Perimeter in...

Calculating perimeter can be a bit, er, repetitive.

Estimating can be a bit, er, repetitive.

And, Taskmaster have come up trumps again!

So, you've been studying perimeter. You've measured, you've done 2(A+B), the trundle wheels have been out, you've costed a new fence for the school field and more...

You've tried and tried to convince your class of the virtues of estimating, but they think you're just balmy.

Well, we like this task!

In the task the contestants have to estimate the perimeter of the caravan in baked beans. So, perimeter of the field in beans, the perimeter of the school hall in paper clips, the perimeter of a maths book in dice and so on...

Same learning, same objectives, but in a different way. Mix things up and get 'em thinking! Let us know how y'all get on...

Padlet Your Thinking

After reading a blog post by @SwayGrantham about her implementation of iPad devices I decided to give one of her ideas a go. This would work on any internet enabled device.

In maths, we spent two days working on a real life investigation looking as redesigning the school's garden. The task was the culmination of our work about 2D shapes and their properties.

Image credit: Padlet.com

I set up a Padlet wall and asked the children to post ideas, thoughts, help, suggestions and photos onto the Padlet wall for others around the classroom to see. The wall can be found here. The children completed the task, whilst sharing their knowledge and learning from each other. It's also created a good digital record of the lesson.

Google Earth in Maths

I have used Google Earth a number of times in maths lessons. It has mostly been to make use of the 'ruler' tool and provide real life links to the lesson.

Ruler

The first use I've found for the ruler tool is for providing real life links to calculating area and perimeter. The ruler too can be used to measure the dimensions of the school playground, a football pitch (see below), a child's garden, the courtyard of Buckingham palace or even The Pentagon, anywhere really! This can be either as a whole class on an interactive display, with everyone calculating areas and perimeters based on the measurements taken or as individuals taking measurements on computers or hand held devices. As the ruler tool measures accurately it offers an opportunity to discuss rounding. Also, if calculating the area and perimeter of part of your school the activity can be carried out virtually on Google Earth and then in 'reality' by going out with trundle wheels and then comparing the two.

The other time I have used the ruler tool is when converting lengths. I've usually done this converting between centimetres, meters and kilometres, but it can also be used to practise converting metric to imperial or vice versa. The example below shows how the length of one side of the Pentagon can be measured and then converted into various different units of measure. The original measurement was taken in meters. I'd then ask the children to convert this to centimetres, kilometres or feet, inches etc., if covering converting to imperial measurements. Once the children have their answers one click of the button can quickly show them the measurement they should have arrived at. The measurement of 'Smoots' always causes some amusement and a good teaching point about less well known units of measure for length.

These are just some ideas I've made use of for using Google Earth in maths lessons. If you have some ideas of your own I'd love to have some comments below.

Update:

@PrimaryIdeas I used Google Maps in math. Sts found distance from home to school then calculated total distance in week by multiplying

— Ross O'Donnell (@rosspodonnell) January 9, 2016

 

Images all credited to 'Google Earth': earth.google.co.uk