An innovation we use in our Maths programme is our NRL Maths Project. This provides an ongoing real-world context to learn and reinforce key maths skills. A group/class competition to find the student who predicts the most correct results during the season has provided a fun environment for the students, who are engaged in Maths problem solving and use mathematical language without realising they're doing so.
Over the course of the twenty-six round NRL competition, number knowledge, problem solving strategies, decimal, fraction and percentage knowledge are learned and reinforced.
Students initially source the numerical data for each team from the NRL website. As the season progresses they use number knowledge and strategies to work out these totals for themselves. They're encouraged to reflect on their predictions, improving understanding of Mathematical concepts and next steps in their learning.
They share this learning on their personal student blogs as a record of their progress.
I've found that this resource has provided our class with a fun, yet practical and constructive method of both learning, and reinforcing Math's knowledge.
Another positive spin-off, reported back during Whanau Conferences, is that students are sharing their learning with their families, as a lot of them have an interest in the NRL competition. Receiving feedback from parents such as, "She's always giving her opinions about who should win games because of points for and against or win-loss records." helps to also provide whanau engagement in their child's learning.
