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Factorial Fun
Objectives
To be able to follow instructions and record observations accurately.
Resources
Abacus 4 Textbook 3 | 6 counters | Squared paper
Today's Lesson
Main Activity
As the mental warm up, ask your student to count back in 20s, 25s, or 50s. Be sure to cross 100 barriers and start from random numbers.
For example:
‘Count back in 50s from 356’.
For one final lesson on spotting and describing mathematical patterns, choose one of the investigations below to have a go at. Encourage your student to articulate what they observe and discover, writing down these observations as they go. Recording observations in an organized way - such as the tables used in the previous two lessons - is often really useful in helping to spot patterns.
- When you throw a dice, how often do you throw a six? Does this change the more throws you do? Try 10 throws, 50 throws, 100 throws or maybe more!
- How many rolls of a dice does it take to get a 6? Keep rolling and stop when you get a 6, counting how many rolls it takes. Record what happens. Repeat lots of times! What is the smallest number of rolls it could take? Predict the largest number of rolls it might take… Does a pattern begin to appear?
- If you started with 1p (one penny), how much would you have after ten doubles?
- How many times can you fold a piece of paper in half?
These kind of experiments help to emphasise the fact that Maths is fun and that mathematical facts can be found out as the result of investigation.