18. November 2019

Task of the Week: Climbing Net

Henrik Müller, a grade 12 student, created some MathCityMap tasks in Geiselwind, Germany. One of them – the task “Kletternetz” [eng. “climbing net”] – is our new task of the week

How did you get to know the MathCityMap idea?

I am a grade 12 student at a German Gymnasium. There I participated at the seminar “mathematics in sports and gaming”, where the MathCityMap idea was presented. As part of my seminar paper, I created one trail consisting of five tasks in the German town Geiselwind. Additionally, I examined the aspects of mathematical modelling in school.

Please describe this task type. How the age of the tree could be ascertained?

The task is about the climbing net, which exhibits some complex geometric structures und solids. Especially, the regular base, circles, one pyramid and one cylinder attract attention. We can model the hole solid as one pyramid with a base in shape of an octagon, which is penetrated by a cylinder. By using the formula for the volume of solids and by applying the theorem of Pythagoras the task can be solved.

What are the results of your analysis of school-based modelling?

In my seminar paper, I compared the usage of realistic and traditional tasks. Therefore, one group worked on conventional tasks in the classroom, while another group handled my created MathCityMap tasks. Both groups consisted out of eight students of the 11th grade. The results of my experiment indicate that solving a MathCityMap tasks leads to an increase of modelling competencies as well as to an improved visual thinking. In my opinion, the project could get a fixed part of modelling pedagogy for the reason that using MathCityMap conduce the mathematical understanding of students.

Date: 18. November 2019 | By: Simon Barlovits | Category:  | 1 Comment

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