Maths Week at KCS
Maths Week in Kinsale Community School
Every year, Kinsale Community School embraces Maths Week to recognise the role of mathematics in our lives. Working with numbers is not only applicable to subjects like Mathematics, Business Studies and Science. Every subject in KCS includes numeracy in their department planning. In recent years, the importance of numerical competence in young people entering the workforce has become increasingly evident. Maths Week is an opportunity for KCS to celebrate the value of numerical thinking in all its forms. The Numeracy Team and Maths Department organised a successful and fun filled week to promote mathematics to the students.
Maths Puzzles
Every day during Maths Week, maths puzzles selected by Damien Sweeney were announced on the intercom. Students had to submit their answers before the end of the day and one student was selected at random from those who solved the problem correctly. This week-long activity was hugely successful with many students from each year group submitting answers.
Below are some examples of puzzles:
If four men can build four tables in four hours, how many can eight men build in eight hours?
There are 12 kids in a creche. 6 kids are wearing socks and 4 are wearing shoes. 3 kids are wearing both. How many are bare foot?
Staff Room Challenges!
The teachers and SNAs also took part in Maths Week. Margaret Cooney coordinated an event to bring out the competitive nature within the staffoom.
The first challenge was a quiz exploring numeracy across Kinsale Community School. When the teachers and SNAs were completing the quiz, they had to wor hard to combine accuracy with speed as the person with the most correct answers in the shortest time frame was the winner. Additionally, Ms. Cooney hosted a competition involving Scrabble and Emojis. The day Maths Week came to the staffroom was one with a lot of tension: there were many gracious winners but also sore losers!
Simultaneous Simultaneous Equations
On Wednesday, all students from first to sixth year competed against each other to solve the simultaneous equation below at 10:15. Simultaneous equations feature in the Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Mathematics curriculum. The visual element allowed all students to take part in this challenge that developed a key skill in Mathematics.
This was an excellent challenge for the students and staff to take part in. Using icon-based equations can provide multiple entry points into algebraic thinking and formal algebraic notation. While this riddle may look accessible, it was the subject of numerous conversations in both the classroom and the staffroom.
Human Quadratic Graph
On Thursday, the Transition Year students explored transformations of the quadratic equations during their double mathematics lesson. Quadratic equations are commonplace in the post-primary mathematics classroom. Quadratic equations in real life are used in many fields and in everyday activities. Astrology, engineering, agriculture, sciences and sports are some of the fields that use quadratic equations. Quadratic equations are used in many real-life situations such as calculating the areas of an enclosed space, the speed of an object, the profit and loss of a product.
Students spent the first lesson exploring the effect of variables a, b and c on the graph ax2 + bx + c = 0. In the second lesson, the 178 KCS TY students formed a human chain to form graph of ¼ x2 = 0. This event was choreographed by Shaun Holly.
Kinsale Community School may be the first school in the world to create a human graph of a quadratic equation which reflects the value KCS places on numeracy and innovative experiential learning opportunities for its students.
First Year Fun Day
All first-year students took part in a “Maths Enrichment Fun Day” in the New Gym to mark the end of Maths Week. There were nine stations that were explored different aspects of numeracy. Each station was facilitated by terrific Transition Year students who served as admirable mentors and role models for the First Years.
Students participated in a basketball challenge that encouraged students to consider the shape of a quadratic curve as well as building on knowledge of fractions and percentages. Lollipop stick puzzles and the Magic Squares activity made the students consider spatial reasoning. There was a dart station that allowed students to think about natural numbers and multiples. An integer art activity helped students to see Mathematics as a creative subject while reinforcing knowledge of positive and negative whole numbers. Students used spheres and string to develop their applied measure skills and discover the origin of the number pi. Sudoko is a classic number based puzzle which has been shown to increase concentration and logical thinking. The Nerdle station supported students to think about the order of operations. The Nerdle station was a firm favourite amongst the First Year students.
It is very important to everyone at Kinsale Community School that the First-Year student experience is a happy one where students can make new friends and have fun while learning. One of the aims of this event was to give the First Years an opportunity to meet other students in their year who they may not have met while in Sixth Class. The First-Year students were able to build on their new friendships with their classmates while developing their abilities to collaborate, problem solve, think creatively and numerically. It was an excellent way to wrap up a successful Maths Week at Kinsale Community School.
