Secondary Mathematics - Let’s talk about enrichment!
20th June 2022
With a curriculum to follow and little time to spare it can be hard to set aside time purely for enrichment. Enrichment is also included in ordinary lessons in the form of challenges that allow learners to explore what they have learnt and how to apply it in new situations as well as in some starters that include novel problems that require problem solving skills. We also have topics that lend themselves naturally to discovery learning as an introduction such as finding π before learning how to find the circumference of a circle and discovering the trigonometric ratios for some angles before learning about Trigonometry. These are all forms of enrichment.
However, as the end of year examinations come to an end and the papers have been corrected the KS3 classes can enjoy a week of applying Maths to real situations, solving new and interesting problems and enjoying the links between Maths and Art. Some of these lessons may seem like games but the value of students just having the time to independently explore their understanding and ‘play’ with the Mathematics they know, manipulate numbers as they understand them and recognise patterns should not be underestimated.
“Exploring, questioning, working systematically, visualising, conjecturing, explaining, generalising, justifying, proving... are all at the heart of mathematical thinking”.
