2006 School Magazine

Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics Enrichment During 2006, the Mathematics Department has been running an enrichment course for Year 11 students seeking to expand their knowledge beyond the curriculum. It is envisaged that this knowledge will be a platform for students choosing to study mathematics at tertiary level. Living Mathematics Some of our Year 10 students had an opportunity to experience the parabola in a moving way. Incorporating the concept of Kinaesthetic Learning into the curriculum, the girls had to model various parabolic equations on a life-sized grid. Walking the grid helped them to understand the concepts of the transformations performed on the basic parabola of y=x2. It made the visualisation and graphing of the parabola in turning point form a starting point for our investigation into the quadratic function, which forms an integral part of the Year 11 Mathematics B syllabus.

Hands-on Activities Our Year 8 Mathematics curriculum incorporates a series of hands-on problem-solving activities. Each class is divided in groups of two or three and set up with a problem ranging from 2 and 3-d visualisation, through pre-algebraic concepts to manipulating fractions. The girls then proceed to solve their problem using the manipulatives provided, and are encouraged to verbalise the solution to their teacher. All have spent an enjoyable and fruitful lesson developing their problem-solving abilities and enhancing their mathematics communication.

Accounting Joys of University

Maths rules

The lure of doing a university Accounting course during high school led Michelle Leeke (12M) and Irvin Lie (12R) to undertake the QUT Accounting in High Schools programme. “It has been an interesting learning experience to see what university life was all about and that we could do this while still in the school environment,” Irvin said. Both girls have discovered the joys of university life, including their own QUT student ID card which makes them feel very ‘grown up’ and entitles them to discounts which are “a bit of a treat too”! Along with fun and games, however, they have had to work through lecture notes and three hours’ worth of tutorial work over many weeks, together with revision for the mid and end of semester examinations. Michelle adds, “We’ve learnt how to be more independent and manage time more wisely as we juggled our Year 12 responsibilities along with this added university workload.”They will experience the most important benefit next year: a semester where they can study one less subject!

Statistics – Power From Data In Science and Mathematics, the scatter plot is widely used to present measurements of two or more related variables. The resulting pattern indicates the type and strength of the relationship. This year a Year 9 class used data from the internet to study the trend in ozone levels over a period of years. The data was entered into an excel spreadsheet and the students found the line of best fit to describe the data. The students were excited to find that their model predicted a negative trend, stimulating discussion of the future of our global climate.

Mr Gary Bromiley Director

Mrs Phillipa Greig Head of Accounting

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Br isbane Gir ls Grammar School

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