Creative Activities in Mathematics - Book 2: Problem-Based Maths Investigations for Upper Primary

Problem-based learning is a powerful alternative to drill-and practice or skills-based learning, especially within maths, but it can be difficult to source rich materials that engage an entire class.

The Creative Activities in Mathematics series provides a wealth of investigations and open-ended active learning activities, designed to engage students with mathematics and develop their problem solving, collaboration and mathematical skills.

Book Two provides nine different class activities suitable for students in upper primary school (Years 4 to 7), along with teaching notes and staged lesson plans. Each activity is a whole class investigation with open-ended answers that takes a particular scenario and develops it over four levels. This enables it to be used both at different year levels and with students of differing ability in the same class. All activities are firmly rooted in the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics and linked to the content descriptors of the Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability strands.

Derek Holton trained as a secondary teacher but has spent most of his life as an academic, doing research in combinatorics and various aspects of mathematics education, including problem solving. However, he has never lost his interest in trying to show students what he enjoys about mathematics. For almost 25 years he worked in New Zealand, where he was part of the group that prepared students to take part in the International Mathematical Olympiad. An Honorary Professor at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Derek is now retired but still works with students and teachers at every opportunity.

Duncan Symons is a Lecturer of Science and Mathematics Education at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include inquiry-based and investigative approaches to mathematics education in the primary years. He is also interested in how mathematics can be embedded within the broader curriculum. He currently facilitates a program for Teacher Candidates at the University of Melbourne that focuses on the adoption and promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as a means to achieve integration.