Emily

Tracey
Liam
Simon
David

Fibonacci* Maths Tasks

Bigger Picture: WALT become confident and competent problem solvers

Term 2 2015

*pseudonyms used

Week 1

YOU DO

Learning Focus:
1. Solve mathematical problems
or puzzles.
2. Add and subtract two-digit
numbers mentally.

Joins (Youll need a copy of this)

Week 1

YOU DO

Week 1
How are you going to go about solving this problem?
Some prompts to help you...
1.

Will you test out a range of possible ages to get one to fit?

2.

What do the clues tell you about the ages of the family members?

3.

Start with a possible age of one of the children.

4.

Use this to calculate the ages of the other family members.

5.

Try other possible ages of that child.

Be ready to discuss your learning with the group when you meet with the teacher on Thursday.

Week 5 Tasks
Learning Focus: WALT become confident and competent problem solvers

Week 5: The Stages of the Problem Solving Process

These are the four stages of the problem solving process:
1.

Getting started

2.

Working on the problem

Trial and improvement
Working systematically

3.

Going further
Generalising
Proving

4.

Concluding
Explain findings and reflect on different methods used

Success Criteria for Solving Problems

Signs of Success!
get started - plan your steps or problem, simplify
working out the problem - strategies, trial and improvement, working systematically
going further - generalisations and prove
concluding/answering the question

Self

Peer

Week 5 Term 2
Spiders and Flies
There were 22 legs creeping across
the web.
How many flies? How many spiders?

WE DO

Stage 1: Getting started

Spiders and Flies
There were 22 legs creeping across
the web.
How many flies? How many spiders?
Think about:
First of all, how many legs do flies have? spiders?
How many legs are there altogether?
How many more do you need to make 22?
How many fewer do you need to make 22?

WE DO

Stage 2: Working on the problem

Spiders and Flies

Choose a strategy to use:

Trial and improvement

___ fly/ies = ___ legs?
___ spider/s = ___ legs?

Working systematically
(there is more than one way of doing this: not just
the one that is obvious to you)
Create a chart with the factors of 6 and 8?

WE DO

Stage 3: Going further

Spiders and Flies
Usually happens when the problem has
been explored and then it is possible
to look for generalisations and proof.

WE DO

Stage 4: Concluding
Spiders and Flies
This is where you explain your findings both verbally
and in writing. You could do this through a photo,
diagram, written explanation or an explain everything
video tutorial.
For e.g.
I used the trial and improvement strategy to solve the problem.
First I did this:
2 spiders and 2 flies = (8x2) + (6x2) = 16 + 12 = 28
Then I realised that I had too many legs.
Then I tried this:
2 spiders and 1 fly = (8x2) + (6x1) = 16 + 6 = 22.
I got the answer in just two attempts!

WE DO

Week 5 Term 2
Zios and Zepts
On the planet Vuv there are two sorts of creatures.
The Zios have 3 legs and the Zepts have 7 legs.
The great planetary explorer Nico, who first discovered the planet,
saw a crowd of Zios and Zepts. He managed to see that there was
more than one of each kind of creature before they saw him.
Suddenly they all rolled over onto their backs and put their legs in the
air. He counted 52 legs. How many Zios and how many Zepts were
there?

Do you think there are any different answers to this that would work?

YOU DO

Stage 1: Getting started

Drawing some pictures or using sticks/counters for legs might help.

Do you have any idea approximately how many Zios and Zepts there
might be to make 52 legs?

You could try choosing a certain number of Zios and a certain number
of Zepts, then count their legs. Do you need more legs or fewer to have
a total of 52?

Stage 2: Working on the problem

Choose a strategy to use:

Trial and improvement

Working systematically (there is more than one way of doing this:

not just the one that is obvious to you)

Stage 3: Going further

Generalisation and proving stage

You could investigate other possible numbers of legs of a group of Zios

and Zepts.

How many ways can be found for each target number?

Stage 4: Concluding

Share solutions and methods

Which strategies were more effective than others?

Explain everything video tutorial on ipad

Other students solutions

We had a very large number of solutions sent in showing various ways of approaching the problem.
Ramesh sent in the following solution: (look at diagram 1)
Natalie and Emma wrote the following:
Our target was 52 and this was our strategy: We guessed, checked and improved. We took a number from the 3x table for the zios and we took a number from the 7x table for the zepts and we put them together and saw what
number it came to. If it was too high we lowered a number and if it was too low we highered a number.
Once we lowered it because our first answer was too high we managed to get 38=24 and 47=28 and our answer was 8 zios and 4 zepts and that was our solution.
Tenisha explained it this way:
When Nico went to the planet of Vuv and saw 52 legs put up by the zios and zepts I figured out that that meant there were 4 zepts and 8 zios. I figured that because 74=28 and 83=24 and together they equal 52. Also,there is no
way you can have the product 52 with different factors to answer this question correctly. This is my conclusion.
Jack, Jack, Eleanor, Rose, Adam, Gregor, Adela and Emily from Brennands Endowed Primary School got together and wrote:
We used multilink to help us see the problem.
We counted out 52 pieces of multilink and put them into groups of 3 (Zios)
This left 1 piece over.
We used 23 zios and the one left over to make 1 Zept (7)
We then used the groups of 3 to make more Zepts until we ended up with
4 Zepts (47=28)
8 Zios (83=24
28+24=52 legs
Quite a number of you used 'guess, check and improve'.
Megan and Sarah wrote this account:
To start our solution to this problem we would like to inform you we chose to use the theory, guess, check and improve. To start our workings out we worked on the number of Zios, we first tried 2 then we worked our way up until
we came to 8 Zios which we calculated was the correct amount for reasons that will be divulged later in our answer.
To mathematically calculate the number of Zepts our first calculation was to do 5224 which equals 28 remaining. Our next sum was to do 287 which equals 4. So using these numbers we were finally able to conclude that there
were 8Zios and 4 Zept.
So thank you for taking the time to read our answer.
Rowena explained her working and drew a table:
To start with I guessed. I went for 10 Zios, which had 310=30 legs. I then counted up in 7s. 7, 14, 21 but found that none gave the right answer when I added them to 30.
I tried 310+37=30+21=51. No good!
I thought about times tables and wrote out the 3 times table up to 51 (no point in going any higher than that). This would give me the number of Zios. In the next column I took that number away from 52 and was hoping for a
multiple of 7which would give me the number of Zepts. Three answers gave multiples of 7! (See below.)
The possible answers were 3+49 (1 Zio and 7 Zepts), 24+28 (8 Zios and 4Zepts) and 45+7 (15 Zios and 1 Zept).
Then I looked back at the question - there had to be more than one of each kind of creature, so the only possible answer is:
8 Zios and 4 Zepts

Week 6 Tasks
Learning Focus: WALT become confident and competent problem solvers

Week 6: The Stages of the Problem Solving Process

These are the four stages of the problem solving process:
1.

Getting started

2.

Working on the problem

Trial and improvement
Working systematically

3.

Going further
Generalising
Proving

4.

Concluding
Explain findings and reflect on different methods used

Success Criteria for Solving Problems

Signs of Success!
get started - plan your steps or problem, simplify
working out the problem - strategies, trial and improvement, working systematically
going further - generalisations and prove
concluding/answering the question

Self

Peer

Week 6 Term 2
Today, you are going to brainstorm the types of
questions you want to solve and then choose 4 problems
to solve as a group.
Problems to choose from: trial and improvement type and working systematically type

You must work together with your group on a large piece of paper showing
your working out and strategies used. You must show that you have gone
through the stages of the problem solving process, including the conclusion
where you must present your findings. You can only move on to the next
question once the first one is solved!
At the end of the lesson you must all complete a reflection - here is the link to the form.

Problems Chosen
1

Problems Chosen
3

Week 6 Term 2
Follow Up Task: Once you have finished solving the 4
problems
In your group, you must create a DLO explaining the steps taken to solve
one of the problems that you have chosen.
Refer to the Stages of the Problem Solving Process so you can set out the
steps taken clearly. (You could also think about including a link to an
explain everything video for extra points)
The most clear and well presented DLO will receive 20 dojo points!

Problem Solving
Week 7 Tasks
WALT get better at group work through problem solving

Week 6 Term 2
Today, you are going to work together as a group and collaborate, discuss
and reason to reach a single goal.
Working on a problem in a group gives you chance to discuss your ideas and further your thinking.
Three or four brains are usually better than one! These activities will help you improve your groupworking skills.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Work on 1 large piece of paper for each question showing your working out and strategies
used.
You must show that you have gone through the stages of the problem solving process.
You can only move on to the next question once the first one is solved!
Make an explain everything for each of the problem solved - going through the stages and
how you solved the problem working together as a group
At the end of the lesson you must all complete a reflection and link it to you self guided
planner under Extra Learning - here is the link to the form.

Week 7:

The Stages of the Problem Solving Process

These are the four stages of the problem solving process:

1.

Getting started

2.

Working on the problem

Trial and improvement
Working systematically

3.

Going further
Generalising
Proving

4.

Concluding
Explain findings and reflect on different methods used

Problems for the Week

1

Arranging Cubes

En-Counters

(need unilink cubes and 8 card

from Miss Kim)

(need box of counters and need to

sit in a way that you cannot see
what others are designing)

Problems for the Week

3

Counters in the
Middle

What Shape?

(need box of counters and need to

sit in a way that you cannot see
what others are designing)

(need shape cards from Miss Kim)

Week 7 Term 2
Follow Up Task: Once you have finished solving the 4
problems
In your group, you must create either a DLO explaining the steps taken to
solve one of the problems that you have chosen or an explain everything for
the four different questions.
Refer to the Stages of the Problem Solving Process so you can set out the
steps taken clearly.