A mathematical thinking activity for children aged 9 - 11. This print and go LTHC (Low Threshold High Ceiling) PDF resource with video support can be used as a flipped learning resource or taught in class. It’s perfect for cover lessons and takes about 100 - 120 minutes to complete. The Lo Shu is the 3 by 3 magic square. In a magic square, all rows, columns and diagonals add up to the same number. The legend of the Lo Shu started in China over 2000 years ago. Since then, these magic squares have been a fascination for many cultures and a source of mysticism as well as mathematical entertainment. Students can use the video to go the activities. They will use mathematical thinking to learn how the magic square works and why it can’t work any other way. The project is broken into several activities that can be worked on in one sitting or over the week. The activities are as follows: An introduction to the legend and magic squares. Support activities to help with partitioning 15 into 3 different numbers. Investigating the grid used for the magic square. Investigating how the numbers involved could be used to make 15 Completing the magic square and comparing with friends Investigating rotations and reflections in grids Rotating and reflecting magic squares What do you notice, what do you wonder? Print out as a booklet for in class work or as a flipped learning resource.

Multiples Mazes help children to get to think about and learn their times tables and get to know the numbers in them. Hidden in a grid of random numbers are paths of multiples of one particular times tables. One of those paths leads from the start (the top of the maze) to the end. This pack features a maze for each of the times tables from 2 - 9 along with a solution for each maze that highlights all of the paths. To help students determine if they are on the right track is a tally chart that shows how often different multiples appear in the shortest path from start to finish. Each times table has multiples from 2 x the number to 13, 14 or 15. These can be used when learning times tables, learning divisibility rules or just as a fun activity to help children consolidate what they’ve learned previously. This resource comes as a printable pdf and has video guidance to help students get started.

What if our currency only used square numbers as coins and notes? How easily would we be able to make different amounts of money? What if the system required us to use a number only once? Is this possible? Is it contrived? Yes - but fun way into number research and square numbers, and these are the skills that are needed in Girls’ Maths Moves! Check https://roots2grow.org/gmm.html for details of these events.

This is an example of the kind of challenges that face competitors at one of our Girls Maths Moves! events. It works like this. The challenge contains a worksheet and to get the girls started and then questions and response sheets to get them going more deeply into the topic. At Girls’ Maths Moves!, teams work to find as much as they can about a topic (this year squares) by asking questions, discussing observations and finding other ways to present the ideas. It gives them the opportunity to experience the concepts and explore them with other mathematicians. For more about Girls’ Maths Moves! go to https://roots2grow.org/gmm.html

The task - design a canal system to bring water to pre-industrial factories. By splitting and joining canals, students explore different fractions. This can start simply with fractions based on halves or thirds but with adding fractions (by joining canals) they can get more complicated. The activity can be done using simple numbers (out of 36), diagrams using a 6 by 6 square or using fractions. Students get a chance to see multiple representations of the fractions as they explore.