Maths Activities
The Hands-on-Activities play a vital role to understand any concepts of mathematics in play way manner. Here, I am going to provide some maths activities for the ready reference. Students and teachers can take ideas of maths activities from these activities while explaining the concepts in the class.
Activity 1
Look at the
figure of laboratory thermometer shown alongside.
A laboratory thermometer shows
temperature below 0° Celsius.
Place the thermometer inside the
refrigerator for a few minutes on each shelf, and note the different
temperatures.
You will see that the temperature
shows anywhere between 0°C and 5°C.
Water converts to
ice at 0°C. So, the temperature of the refrigerator should be kept at about
4°C.
At which shelf is it the coldest? Find
out why is this so.
Place the thermometer inside the
freezer for a few minutes. You will see that the temperature shows anywhere
between –1°C and –15°C.
The refrigerator and freezer have
temperature control knobs. Change the settings and note the temperature for
each setting in the freezer.
Activity 2
Objective: To recognize the plane shapes with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 sides.Use rubber bands to make shapes with 3 sides, 4 sides, 5 sides, 6 sides, 7 sides and 8 sides on a geoboard.
How many angles does each shape have?
Identify each type of angle as acute, obtuse or right angles.
Activity 3
Objective: To find all the prime numbers and
composite numbers between 1 and 100.
Consider the
first 100 natural numbers.
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10
11 12
13 14 15
16 17 18
19 20
21 22
23 24 25
26 27 28
29 30
31 32
33 34 35
36 37 38
39 40
41 42
43 44 45
46 47 48
49 50
51 52
53 54 55
56 57 58
59 60
61 62
63 64 65
66 67 68
69 70
71 72
73 74 75
76 77 78
79 80
81 82
83 84
85 86 87
88 89 90
91 92
93 94 95
96 97 98
99 100
Tasks to
Do
1. Cross out 1.
2. Circle 2, and then cross out all the
multiples of 2.
3. Circle 3, the next number after 2
that is not crossed out. Then cross out all the multiples of 3.
4. Circle 5, the next number after 3
that is not crossed out (4 has been crossed out). Then cross out all the
multiples of 5.
5. Continue doing this until you have
visited all the numbers in the group.
Now, all the
circled numbers are prime numbers and all the numbers (other than 1) which are
crossed out are composite numbers.
Thus, prime
numbers are: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59,
61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97.
All the remaining
numbers other than 1 are composite numbers.
Activity 4
Objective: To find the sufficient conditions
needed to draw unique triangles.
Tasks to
Do
You will
need drinking straws and angle strips of different angle of pre-determine
measures.
1. Form a triangle using three pieces of
drinking straws or pipe cleaners of lengths 5 cm, 7 cm, and 10 cm.
(i)
Compare
your triangle with the triangles of your classmates.
(ii)
What
do you observe? Are all the triangles the same?
Try three different
lengths of material (3 cm – 4 cm – 5 cm, 5cm – 5 cm – 5cm, and 7 cm – 7 cm – 5
cm) to see if the same conclusion holds true.
2. Using the 5 cm and 7 cm pieces of
straw and a 50° angle made from angle strips (or straws and pipe cleaners),
form a triangle. The third side can be any length necessary to complete the
triangle. Experiment by placing the 50° angle in different locations so that it
is the angle between the two given sides and then as the angle opposite one of
the given sides.
(i)
Sketch
and label the triangles that you have formed.
(ii)
Compare
your triangles with those of your classmates for each case explored, and to
state the conclusions.
(iii)
Where
must the 50° angle be placed relative to the other known sides in order to
produce triangles that are the same for you and your classmates?
Try three different
combinations of lengths and angle measures of material to see if the same
conclusion holds true.
3. Using only the 7 cm straw and 2
angles of 50° and 60°, along with 2 other pieces of straw (cut to appropriate
required lengths), explore possible ways of combining them to make a triangle.
(i)
Sketch
and label the triangles that you have formed.
(ii)
Compare
your triangles with those of your classmates and observe how two angles and one
side should be arranged such that triangles that are alike will always be
produced.
Similarly,
try three different combinations of lengths and angle measures of material to
see if the same conclusion hold true.
4. Explore using only 3 angles of 50°,
60°, and 70° to form triangles. Is it possible to form a unique triangle?
5. Explore using three pieces of straws
of lengths 3 cm, 4 cm, and 10 cm to form triangles. Also, try another different
combination of lengths of material (3 cm –5 cm – 10 cm or 4 cm–5 cm–10 cm).
(i)
Is
it possible to form a unique triangle in each of the case?
(ii)
Find
the sum of any two sides of each triangle in Task (5). Compare the sum of any
two sides of a triangle with the length of the third side of the triangle.
(iii)
Refer
to the lengths of sides of the triangles formed in Task (1). Find the sum of
any two sides of each of those triangles in Task (1). What do you notice about
the sum of any two sides of a triangle with the length of the third side of the
triangle?
Activity 5
Objective: To recognize the relationship
between nets and the solids formed from the nets.
Tasks to
Do
1. Copy the given nets on a sheet of
paper.
2. Cut each of them out along the solid
lines.
3. Fold each of them up along the dotted
lines to form solids.
The solids formed from the above nets can be drawn as follows:
Activity 6
Objective: To compare between mean, median, and
mode.
Tasks to
Do
1. Consider the data set A = {3, 3, 7,
8, 9}.
(a) Find its mean, median, and mode.
(b) If the number 54 is included in the set, find the new mean, median,
and mode.
(c) Which measure in (a) is most affected by the addition of a large
number?
(d) Which measure in (a) do you recognize to be the most appropriate
representation of the center of the data set A? Explain your choice briefly.
2. Consider the data set B = {1, 1, 3,
6} and C = {1, 1, 4, 10, 10, 10}.
(a) Find the mean, median, and mode of
data set B, data set C and the combined data set D of data sets B and C. Copy
and complete the following table.
Measure of Center
|
Mean
|
Median
|
Mode
|
Data set B
|
|||
Data set C
|
|||
Combined data set D
|
(b) Which measure of
center involves all the data of a data set in its calculation?
(c) Suppose you are given
only the numbers of items for sets B and C, and their individual measures of
center. Which measure can you derive for the combined data set D from the given
values?
Activity 7
Objective: To find the hexagonal numbers
A hexagonal number is a number
that can be represented as a regular hexagon. The first few hexagonal numbers
are 1, 6, 15, 28, ...
Find the generalized formula for hexagonal numbers.