MATHS NEWS
Around the grounds:
Year 7
In Year 7, students are having their first introduction to formal Algebra. They are learning the methods and rules that are associated with working with Algebra and are curious about where it is used in everyday life. Very soon, they will be moving on to focus on the mathematics involved in simple probability experiments.
Year 8
Year 8 students this term will be explicitly taught different problem solving strategies (draw a diagram, guess, check and refine, use a formula/working backwards, using knowledge of mathematical concepts), through their unit on volume. All students are using RUTAC as a tool to identify key information before devising and carrying out their plan when solving worded problems.
Year 9
Year 9 students on the 5.1 pathway are currently working on the fundamental skills associated with Area and Surface Area. These students will be putting these in context by calculating renovation costs for an area in their home.
Students on the Stage 5.2 and 5.3 pathway continue their study of single variable data and will very shortly be producing a newspaper article that presents some findings from the recently released 2021 Australian Census data. Students are able to choose data on a topic of their choice, including sports participation, gaming statistics or ABS data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and will need to synthesise and present the data in a manner that is easily accessible to the general public.
Year 10
Students in Year 10 are preparing to submit a video tutorial on the topic Non-Linear Relationships. The idea is that their video is designed to teach their peers about different types of Non-Linear Relationships such as Parabolas, Circles and Hyperbolas. Students are excited to demonstrate their knowledge through a different medium.
Year 11
Our students in the Year 11 Advanced course have recently completed their assignment using Trigonometry to plan an effective music festival:
Our semester 1 take home assignment required us to design a concert ground using numerous trigonometric concepts to calculate metrics which would adequately meet set requirements.
This assignment allowed me to apply mathematical concepts in real world situations. Finally, a maths assignment which allowed me to incorporate both critical thinking and problem solving as well as creative touches. My concert grounds were located within Sydney’s The Domain - Phillip Precinct. Various site issues were present such as the M1 Motorway which brought about considerable noise pollution issues. Moreover, when choosing the seat section of the concert grounds, I had to consider the effects of image desaturation on the audience when viewing the concert screen from different positions.
After completing extensive research I was able to collate my information, presenting accurately plotted concert grounds depicting locations of critical infrastructure (see below) with justification to these specific allocations.
(Extract from assignment)
The mathematical concepts studied in class were critical to my success in this assignment as they were all applied in my calculations. I owe a thanks to my teacher, Mr Muscatello, for his continuous support over the duration of the assignment. I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment and readily tackled the challenges that arose when completing it.
Jett Smith – Year 11
Students in the Standard course completed their assignment by conducting a survey of other students in their cohort about their screen time:
Students within the Standard Maths cohort were tasked with conducting a survey in order to find data in relation to screen time of their peers. Students were tasked with collecting data from the maths cohort using two of four different forms of sampling methods, including: Systematic, Self Selected, Capture-recapture and Stratified. With these two forms of sampling methods students were asked to find data relating to screen time of the individual including Weekly Screen time, Daily Average and Most Used App. From the data collected, students used appropriate formulas in order to find the measures of spread and central tendency which would form the basis for the graphs to be constructed. Students represented this data through various graphical representations including stem and leaf plots, frequency table and histograms, dot plots and Pareto charts. Since the nature of the task being a mathematical investigation, and having to conduct our own research, the task was unique to each student. It was this that made the task interesting rather than simply having another topic test or exam each term.
An example of Self- Selected Data collected from 20 students
Pareto Chart displaying the most used app of 20 students.
When applying the 80/20 rule the most significant data is Snapchat and Tiktok which make up 80% of the data.
We wish our Year 12 students all the best as they continue their preparation for their upcoming Trial HSC exams in Week 4.
JT Mathematics Faculty