Author: Kim Adler
Origin: FRANCE
Implemented in: Czech Republic, Portugal and Belgium (Flemish Community)
Its aim is to show students that maths can be fun and that it can be learnt in combination with other disciplines. In this case, the other discipline which plays an important role is language, as the lessons are based on group work, where students have to solve mathematical problems that are wrapped in stories. Through these exercises the students learn to pay close attention to the vocabulary used in mathematics. This GP had initially been planned for students aged 12-13, and as such it was a great success in the Czech Republic.
Success stories
A Czech teacher said: “The pupils were working very hard, they found out the results easily. Each group solved a different problem. The group which solved the cats problem made the bus some metres long and they drew themselves, cats, kittens and their calculation into each window of the bus. Then they played drama to show the mathematics problem to other pupils.” A Belgian teacher who intended to implement this GP in a class to students aged 15-16 had to adapt the exercises somewhat by including some more difficult mathematical concepts, such as freeze patterns, gothic windows and Escher tessellations. Nevertheless, the method of the mathematical show” worked very well and it motivated students to find solutions to their problems and present their group activities to the other students in the class.