Tag: fountain

Task of the Week: Fountain

Author Simon BarlovitsDate
Task of the Week

Our new Task of the Week is located in Slovakia. In the town Nové Zámky, Aneta Vadkerti created the task “Fountain” and the math trail “Learn something new”.

How do you get in contact with MathCityMap?

A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine told me about this amazing mathematics application, which I could use while teaching. Veronika Bockova, who studies Mathematics in a nearby town, helped me to get familiar with it. When I later used it with my students, they were so excited that it motivated me a lot and I even tried to make my own trail.

Please describe your task.

My task “Fountain” is placed in the city centre, in the pedestrian zone in Nové Zámky, in Slovakia. The question is to figure out the radius of the fountain. As there is usually water in it, you can not just measure the radius. You have to measure the circumference of the fountain. And as the fountain is in a circle shape, you can find out length of the radius by using the formula C = 2πr. To calculate the radius, we use r = C/2π. 

Which didactic aims do you want to stimulate through this task?

This is a kind of procedural task, which can provide students with a good practise of procedures. I focused on the knowledge students already possess. I also intended to stimulate logic thinking and problem solving through experiencing learning in a real-life situation – not only on theoretical, but on practical level, too.

Do you have any other commentary on MathCityMap?

Me and my students love the application MathCityMap. Students are outside, they are moving, breathing fresh air.  There is a lot of group work, brainstorming, they help each other. They learn new interesting facts about the town and its history. And furthermore, they realise the big meaning of mathematics in life.

Task of the Week: Minerva Fountain

Author Simone JablonskiDate
Task of the Week

Today’s Task of the Week will be presented in an interview with Virginia Alberti, who uses and supports MathCityMap in Italy. We say thank you for the interview and the numerous Italian tasks!

Task: Capacità per la fontana della Minerva – Capacity of the Minerva fountain (Task number: 2452)

How many liters fit into the Minerva fountain?

This task concerns the calculation of the capacity of a fountain tub placed in a square of my city center. To answer the question of the activity, the students have to model the fountain basin and calculate the volume.

At a first sight, the calculation could be trivial, but in reality, it requires observation, analysis and skill in the choice of the model to be applied with certain conditions and approximations related to:

  • the particularity of the shape of the tub (2 cone trunks),
  • the presence of a base in the center that supports the statue,
  • the choices on measurement methods not taken for granted.

I have thought, designed, and created this task to propose it in a collaborative learning mode for a small group, and I identified myself with the actions that my students could use their knowledge to estimate the capacity.

I found it intriguing that in the group the students could:

  • talk about math for creating the model,
  • activate and compare the skills for solving a real problem,
  • choose a shared solution strategy with different measurement opportunities,
  • make conjectures and then have different ways to verify them without finding ideas in the network.

I think MathCityMap is a tool that allows:

  • supporting the pursuit of mathematical and digital skills as well,
  • facilitating a conscious and educational use of mobile devices and recovering some skills and practices of use that millenials mature in informal learning,
  • supporting what is defined as laboratory teaching,
  • facilitating an active role of the student by stimulating creativity in the approach to the resolution strategy with respect to the questions of the task,
  • opening up the possibility of other methods of teaching approach such as the flipped lesson or PBL.

Furthermore, I think MathCityMap for teachers is:

  • a challenge to innovation towards an educational proposal that facilitates the social and collaborative learning of mathematics;
  • a reactivation of a new project towards those that are the learning requests of the 21st century (I am thinking of the STEM field);
  • an activation to a role of less transmissive teacher, but more as tutor, from facilitator, …

 

Task of the Week: Water in the Fountain

Author Simone JablonskiDate
Task of the Week

A popular MathCityMap task is concerned with the volume of fountains and how many liters of water are contained. The question can be used for a wide range of geometric themes, depending on the shape of the selected fountain (rectangular, circular, …). The Task of the Week is a particular challenge because the fountain has to be modeled with help of different geometric bodies.

Task: Water in the Fountain (task number: 1420)

How many liters of water are in the illustrated fountain?

The illustrated fountain can be modeled using a cuboid and a cylinder (divided into two parts). If this has been recognized, the necessary quantities must be collected and the individual volumes calculated. Finally, the conversion in liters is required. The task with cylinders can be used from class 9 onwards; simpler fountain shapes are already possible from class 6 onwards.

Depending on the structure of the well, the collection of the data can be a challenge and the students have to become creative. For example, the circumference of a circle can be helpful for the determination of the diameter. Not at least through such considerations, a flexible handling of mathematical formulas and correlations is promoted.