Year One Inquiry Resources
Select a strand from the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, below.
NUMBER AND ALGEBRA
Grandma's Soup: How can we grab 100 pieces of macaroni?
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The unit provides an authentic context for counting large collections (around 100). Students consider ways to grab a handful of 100 pieces of macaroni and the best way to count their handfuls. They see a need for skip counting and partitioning using place value when counting large amounts. During the unit, students find better ways to grab 100 pieces of macaroni and more efficient ways to count the pieces. They use evidence to convince others their grab is close to 100 and has been efficiently counted.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, Grandma's soup: How can we grab 100 pieces of macaroni?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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Target Ball: How far does a ball roll?
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Students work to recommend how the sports teacher should set up a game of ‘Target Ball’. They investigate the best type of ball to roll, and where to position the target. In groups, they negotiate consistent measurement practices to ensure fair testing (e.g. surface, type of ball, how to roll, who rolls, how to record) and select an appropriate informal, uniform unit of measure to make comparisons. They make sense of the differences in their measurements by organising and displaying them on a number line. The class then uses a table (categorised data) to display the measurements collected from all groups to predict a fair placement for a target ball.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, Target ball: How far does a ball roll?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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MEASUREMENT AND GEOMETRY
Playing with Dough: What is the best recipe for playdough?
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Students use measurement and the procedural genre (recipes), and are introduced informally to scientific testing when they follow a recipe to make playdough, then determine their own criteria by which to rank the playdough to determine the ‘best’.
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Linked up: What is the longest paper chain that can be made from A4 paper?
Which way from here? Can others follow my route?
Target Ball: How far does a ball roll?
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Students work to recommend how the sports teacher should set up a game of ‘Target Ball’. They investigate the best type of ball to roll, and where to position the target. In groups, they negotiate consistent measurement practices to ensure fair testing (e.g. surface, type of ball, how to roll, who rolls, how to record) and select an appropriate informal, uniform unit of measure to make comparisons. They make sense of the differences in their measurements by organising and displaying them on a number line. The class then uses a table (categorised data) to display the measurements collected from all groups to predict a fair placement for a target ball.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, Target ball: How far does a ball roll?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY
Playing with Dough: What is the best recipe for playdough?
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Students use measurement and the procedural genre (recipes), and are introduced informally to scientific testing when they follow a recipe to make playdough, then determine their own criteria by which to rank the playdough to determine the ‘best’.
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Target Ball: How far does a ball roll?
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Students work to recommend how the sports teacher should set up a game of ‘Target Ball’. They investigate the best type of ball to roll, and where to position the target. In groups, they negotiate consistent measurement practices to ensure fair testing (e.g. surface, type of ball, how to roll, who rolls, how to record) and select an appropriate informal, uniform unit of measure to make comparisons. They make sense of the differences in their measurements by organising and displaying them on a number line. The class then uses a table (categorised data) to display the measurements collected from all groups to predict a fair placement for a target ball.
The guided mathematical inquiry unit, Target ball: How far does a ball roll?, and the description above, can be found at the reSolve: Maths by Inquiry website.
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You may also be interested in other inquiries from the Thinking through Mathematics series, Book 1 (Ages 6-8) |
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Available to members:
- Favourite books: Does our class have a favourite type of book? In this unit, students decide what attributes (characteristics) they think a ‘typical’ favourite book might have.
- Ramp it up: What is the best ramp design for a toy car? In this unit, students build car ramps and test toy cars in order to develop conceptual understanding of aspects of measurement, geometry and data.
- Feet, fabulous feet: How big are Year One feet? This unit uses a common context, foot size, to explore aspects of measurement and shape.
- Scissors, paper, rock: Who is the best scissors, paper, rock player in our class? In this unit students participate in a class scissors, paper, rock tournament to determine the best player in the class. On the way, they explore extended number patterns and the language of probability in a fun and practical context.
