Block 6: Investigations

The aim of the Maths Mastery programme is to give children a deep understanding and fluency in the fundamentals of maths. Because this understanding is deep it will not have to be re-taught at a later time; something which happens all too often at the moment. This new approach needs new resources, especially geared towards reasoning and problem solving. Thankfully we have always considered reasoning to be a key part of the maths curriculum and many of our resources in all categories are designed for this. But we also have a separate category in each year group called, ‘Reasoning and Problem Solving’ where you will find a rich source of material, some of which we include in our final block of the year. There are ‘How many ways ….’ type of practical exercises (e.g. How many different ways can you put counters in a set of boxes?) These encourage children to think logically and order their results so that they can be sure that they have all possible answers. A favourite of mine is the ‘Three Coin Challenge’. Finally, take some time out to play the maths games such as Nim which originated in China. They are great at developing logical thinking and developing a winning strategy. You should never lose if you go first!