1998 School Magazine

Ginger am mar ^iconol ^!Brisbane 1998

-a

~:, 5^z

Mathema.tics 17a. .culty

rice again the Mathematics Faculty has been involved in many exciting projects. Students have been involved in a number of State and National competitions. One thousand students sat for the annual Australian Mathematics Competition, giving them an understanding of theirlevel of numeracy on a nationalscale. in addition, approximately one hundred and twenty students entered the Queensland Association of Mathematics Teachers problem solving competition which is at a much higher level of difficulty. in the QAMT problem solving competition the students have three hours (Years Ten, Eleven and Twelve), and two hours (Years Eight and Nine) to complete five questions it is an indication of the high motivation of our students that so many were confident enough to participate.

a

\

Y

,!.** }, , ,!.\ \

" *\ A :,

Astronomy Actt"to' The School's internet and e-mail facilities have also allowed for the development of an international link with a group of students from Windham, Maine, USA. Turlo's Yellow Chiquitas (as they call themselves) formed a team with a group of our Year Nine students CThe Blue Bitbys), and participated in a problem- solving competition against teams from other countries. Organ- ised by Mrs Jocelyn O'NGill, the team has produced some very creative solutions to the set chaUenges Challenging our more autonomous mathematicians in the senior school has been a program run by the Queensland University of Teclmology. MathX, an initiative of Associate ProfessorHelenMCGillivray, comprised topics suchas Stochastic Modelling, (toads, buses, bugs and queues), Population Mod- elling, Cryptography and Actuarial Studies. The students in- volved found the modules stimulating and motivational

(Z-R). Mrs/Just, S. Mendts, G. Buntorts, S. Perrett, S. She'd, C. M@A, Mrs/. Charles-Edu^@, ds A smaller team of enthusiastic Year Eight students found that training to be a "Quiz Kid" was an exciting and alternative lunch time activity. The Year Eight Quiz Kids, organised and coached by Mrs IOCelyn O'Neill and Mrs Iennifer Charles-Edwards were, with great difficulty, reduced from a starting team of twelve to a required team of three girls and two reserves. In competition with seven other schools our students acquitted themselves admirably, conceding by one point to the witming team another activity enjoyed by the Year Eight girls was Mrs Boltman's competition in which the girls' mathematical and artistic skills were combined to produce an advertising logo The prize for the winner \\,'as the application of her logo to a T- shirt. We hope to extend this competition later in the year to produce a logo for the Mathematics Faculty. Year Eight and Year Nine mathematics courses have been greatly enriched by the input of staff from other subject disciplines. Working in teaching teams, this most coherent and comprehensive approach to cooperative and collaborative learning allows both teachers and students to have a more expansive vision of links with other subject areas. Using different mathematical software packages, students have ex- PIOred, analysed and organised given information, often in conjunction with other subject areas.

;^ , ;,,

Mathm@gic Team Other initiatives for the near future include the use of the School's new workshop to enhance the spatial awareness of students in all year levels. Mathematics A students win particu- Iarly benefit from the expertise of the Design and Technology teacher, Mr hadrew Devoy, when they embark on the Consmuc- tion unit of their course. in addition Year Ten students will experience some cross-curricular enrichment activities. Also, we are currently linking graphic calculators with scientffic sensor devices and computer software to extend both techno- logical and analytical competencies of the students

56