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Mathematical challenges for able pupils in key stages 1 and 2
Puzzles and problems in this book
The guidance contains puzzles and problems. These are accessible to a wide range of pupils. There are three sections covering Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6. The problems are intended to challenge pupils and extend their thinking. While some of them may be solved fairly quickly, others will need perseverance and may extend beyond a single lesson. Pupils may need to draw on a range of skills to solve the problems. These include: working systematically, sorting and classifying information, reasoning, predicting and testing hypotheses, and evaluating the solutions.
Many of the problems can be extended by asking questions such as: 'What if you tried three-digit numbers?' 'What if there were more boxes?' 'What if you used triangles instead of squares?' Problems can also be extended by asking pupils to design similar problems of their own to give to their friends or families.
Learning objectives appropriate to each problem are indicated so that you can target problems by integrating them into your main teaching programme.
Solutions are given at the end of the book.
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Extended tasks, problems or investigations within/beyond the main curriculum
Resources that schools may find useful include:
- books of investigations and 'open' problems;
- mathematics magazines and booklets produced for pupils;
- mathematical posters and topic books that stimulate discussion and investigation;
- computer access to the Internet;
- calculators to solve challenging and investigative activities;
- software;
- 'general' books on mathematics, e.g. history of mathematics, biographies of mathematicians.
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Competitions
The Mathematical Association introduced a Primary Mathematics Challenge in November 1999. This competition will run annually from 2000.
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Websites
The Maths Year 2000 website contains puzzles and problems, and links to a number of other mathematical websites:
www.mathsyear2000.org
The nrich website also provides a regular supply of problems:
www.nrich.maths.org.uk
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