Task of the Week: Les nombres sur Castella
The task of the week is back! After the Corona contact restrictions have been eased in most countries, we are looking forward to start the new outdoor mathematics season. Summer is MathCityMap time! And so, we eagerly await many new MathCityMap tasks.
The current Task of the Week is located in the Pyrenean village Arignac in the south of France, where the math teacher Sonja Rembert has created the task “Les nombres sur Castella” [Numbers on the tower].
How did you get to know MathCityMap?
I discovered the wonderful MathCityMap project through a publication on APMEP, a French website for math teachers (click here to see the article about MathCityMap on APMEP). In my teaching, I try to use approaches that are as interesting and varied as possible. Therefore, I was immediately enthusiastic about the Mathtrail idea!
In the first math trail I created, I want to lead the students out of the classroom and get them to get to know their surroundings or our village from a mathematical perspective.
Please describe your task. How could you solve it?
I have created the task “Les nombres sur Castella” in the small village Arignac in the south of France. The task is about an ordinary tower, as you often find in this region: A Castella. My 8-year-old pupils are asked to answer the following question: “Find all the numbers that can be seen on the tower and add them up! So, the goal is to add up all the numbers you can find on the tower. This can be tricky because there are numbers on a clock and there is a clock on each side of the tower. You can also read other numbers on two information boards on the tower.
Which didactic goals do you want to promote with this task?
The children should take a closer look at the familiar tower and recognise that they can find numbers everywhere, even “in real life”. In our daily life we are surrounded by numbers!
Do you have any further comments on MathCityMap?
I think the MathCityMap project is very useful to motivate students for math lessons! Therefore, I will create more math trails soon. Thank you very much for developing the great MathCityMap platform!
