Task of the Week: Checkmate!

Annika Grenz has created our new task of the week in Wolfsburg. The student teacher of the TU Braunschweig reports about her task in the following interview.

How did you get to know MathCityMap?

I came across the MathCityMap project during my master thesis for my teacher training at the TU Braunschweig. It deals with the theoretical background of the project and the development of an own trail for the secondary school level I. I would like to create the trail and the individual tasks for a subject area that is not yet so often addressed in the already published tasks and trails, but which is still application-oriented. These conditions led to the area of percentage calculation.

Describe your task. How can it be solved?

The task is to calculate the height of a required chess piece (king) for an already existing chessboard in the pedestrian zone. For professional chess there are exact specifications for the size of a square with 58mm and for the height of the king with 9.5cm. The dimensions of the individual chess squares can be measured with the help of a folding rule/measuring tape. Certain percentage relations for chess boards and corresponding pieces are given in the task definition. These provide information about the size of the diameter of the chess piece in relation to the square as well as the height of the king in relation to the diameter of the piece.

What didactic goals do you pursue with this task?

The goal of the task is to show the students that not only the geometric content of the mathematics lessons, but also other or all other topics are useful and needed for them in their immediate environment and in the most diverse areas of life.

Do you have further comments about MathCityMap?

The MathCityMap project is a great opportunity to take students out into the fresh air, motivate them and let them discover mathematics in their everyday lives.