Ever since I went to school. the format for a “normal” Maths lesson has been the same:
- Teach a new method
- Show the class some examples
- Give them a set of similar problems to try.
Just at the moment I’m exploring an alternative approach
- Think about ONE interesting* problem to give the pupils
- Give it to them, and see what they come up with, being open to them experiencing a dose of “I can’t do it” and “I’m stuck”
The definition of *interesting is a big challenge of course, and will rest on how well you know your pupils. Today I picked food because it is an area of common interest between me and one of my pupils. I gave her a problem which I would classify as a “backwards” problem – I was asking her to discover the price of a tin of tomatoes, given some clues.
Maths Tutor Bournemouth 