Year Four Inquiry Resources
Select a strand from the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, below.
NUMBER AND ALGEBRA
10 000 Centicubes: What is the best container to hold 10 000 centicubes?
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The inquiry integrates content in number and measurement to deepen students’ understanding and confidence in working with larger numbers, especially for flexibly partitioning numbers into convenient components. Students negotiate what 'best' means and explore ways to identify 10 000 centicubes without counting all. They determine suitable bases and heights, record their calculations, construct a 3D model and explain the benefits of their container.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, 10 000 Centicubes: What is the best container to hold 10 000 centicubes?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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Expanded Square: How can we design an expanded square where approximately half the area of the original square is flipped to the outside?
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Expanding a square is an art technique that flips cut-out shapes from the inside of a coloured paper square to the outside. Students must design an expanded square that flips out about half the area. They explore different methods to determine whether they have removed about half of the original square and adjust their design accordingly. When sharing their designs they describe any symmetry created and the transformations used and justify their area calculations.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, Expanded Square: How can we design an expanded square where approximately half the area of the original square is flipped to the outside?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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MEASUREMENT AND GEOMETRY
10 000 Centicubes: What is the best container to hold 10 000 centicubes?
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The inquiry integrates content in number and measurement to deepen students’ understanding and confidence in working with larger numbers, especially for flexibly partitioning numbers into convenient components. Students negotiate what 'best' means and explore ways to identify 10 000 centicubes without counting all. They determine suitable bases and heights, record their calculations, construct a 3D model and explain the benefits of their container.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, 10 000 Centicubes: What is the best container to hold 10 000 centicubes?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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Expanded Square: How can we design an expanded square where approximately half the area of the original square is flipped to the outside?
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Expanding a square is an art technique that flips cut-out shapes from the inside of a coloured paper square to the outside. Students must design an expanded square that flips out about half the area. They explore different methods to determine whether they have removed about half of the original square and adjust their design accordingly. When sharing their designs they describe any symmetry created and the transformations used and justify their area calculations.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, Expanded Square: How can we design an expanded square where approximately half the area of the original square is flipped to the outside?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY
You may also be interested in other inquiries from the Thinking through Mathematics series, Book 2 (Ages 8-10)The following titles are available on the Free Resources page:
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Little boxes: What is the most suitable way to package four small boxes?
In the context of a request from a health foods manufacturer, students are challenged to develop the 'best' design for packaging four small snack boxes.
In the context of a request from a health foods manufacturer, students are challenged to develop the 'best' design for packaging four small snack boxes.
Biased Bingo: What bingo card would give me the best chance of winning?
In this unit, students devise bingo cards which they believe will give them the best chance of winning a game of addition fact bingo.
In this unit, students devise bingo cards which they believe will give them the best chance of winning a game of addition fact bingo.
Also available to members:
- Round Robin: Who is the best handball player in our class? In this unit, students plan and run a class handball tournament to decide the best player in the class. They use the data they generate to improve subsequent tournament designs.
- Shower timers: How accurate are shower timers? In this unit, students assess shower timers to determine their accuracy and reliability.
- Class party: Is it possible to provide a class party for $5 per head? Many opportunities arise throughout the year to hold a class party. This unit enables students to use fractional understandings and concepts to plan a class party within an assigned budget.
- Peach Ponderings: Which brand of tinned peaches are the best? The focus of this unit is on learning to recognise and pose questions that can be investigated. Students examine categories of questions that are closed, non-investigative and investigative. They learn three strategies for writing investigative questions using comparisons, preferences and ambiguous words. Students should have some experience with mathematical inquiry before starting this unit.
