We continued the Finance Project with a reminder that they would need to be giving their presentations the week beginning 5th May and the class were given a reminder also on what they are expected to produce when they give their presentation.
In continuing with the Finance Project we looked at loans, whether or not people could really afford to take out a loan given specific circumstances.
This week the class finished the topic Time, Timetables & Temperature before moving onto the topic Co-ordinates.
The class was issued a homework on the MyMaths website (Time & Timetables) with a deadline of Tuesday 29th April for completion. The homework is also detailed on the website that the school now uses to inform parents of homeworks – https://harlaw.showmyhomework.co.uk/school/homeworks/calendar
The class were given advance notice that the week beginning 12th May they would be doing an end of year test on all the topics covered through the course of the year, including the work as part of the Café Project. The topics are – Whole Numbers, Symmetry, Angles, Problem Solving, Decimals, Fractions & Percentages, Equations & Expressions, Perimeter, Area & Volume, Scale Drawing, 2D & 3D Shapes and related properties such as Nets, Surface Area, Time, Timetables & Temperature, Measurement as well as C0-ordinates.
Having completed all 3 Units of the Higher course we now had time to revise any particular topics that were identified as being particularly challenging in order to consolidate these topics. We were also able to spend time targeting these topics and getting practice with the exam style question typical of these topics. The class should be spending about 3 to 4 hours a week (minimum) working from past papers over the holidays. My recommendation is for 7 to 8 hours and upwards if they want to achieve a good grade.
The class were reminded that I would be available if help is required at the usual timetabled lessons, as well as from 7.40am onwards all week , from 1 – 1.25pm Monday to Thursday, and also at other times in the day when I would be scheduled for preparation time for classes.
We continued the National 5 work with the first unit – Applications, with the topic Trigonometry. We spent the whole of the week on mixed questions involving Sine Rule, Cosine Rule and Area of a Triangle as they will need to decide which formula to use in order to solve a more typical problem similar to the type that would be in the National 5 exam. The work on these can be found on the MyMaths website under Library – Shape – Trigonometry. The class were informed that when they start the National 5 course properly then the pace of the work would pick up significantly and that this was one of the easiest topics as the rest of the course is a lot harder.
We again had more practice of Non-Calculator work on Percentages.
We continued the Money & Finance topic with a look at overtime; gross & net pay; profit/loss and hire purchase.
The class were reminded that after the Easter holidays they would be sitting their S3 exams, which would include a Non-Calculator paper as well as a Calculator paper. Any of the work covered in S1, S2 and S3 to date could appear in the test.
The class spent two lessons looking at the type of question that is shortly going to be introduced in GCSE Mathematics in England, and were able to see that the work done so far in the Finance Project is giving them the same level of knowledge in S2.
We then went onto looking at interest rates, inflation and also how much money can be borrowed in certain circumstances such as for a mortgage.
The class were reminded that their presentations for the Finance Project would be taking place the week beginning 5th May, and as such they might need to continue collating their data and financial records over the holidays in order to start putting it all together after the holidays.
We continued the Finance Project with more work on paying tax on wages (Financial Competence).
The class were reminded that their presentations for the Finance Project would be taking place the week beginning 5th May, and as such they might need to continue collating their data and financial records over the holidays in order to start putting it all together after the holidays.
This week the class carried on with the topic Time, Timetables & Temperature. In dealing with temperatures, negative numbers can be involved and work on this can be found on the MyMaths website under Library – Number – Counting and Place Value – Negative Numbers 1.
The winning groups from all S1 classes including Galaxy Café from our class gave their presentations to the judges and I am pleased to announce that it was Galaxy Café who were the overall winners this year. They will be awarded their prize at an assembly later in the year.
The class were given advance notice that the week beginning 12th May they would be doing an end of year test on all the topics covered through the course of the year, including the work as part of the Café Project. The topics are – Whole Numbers, Symmetry, Angles, Problem Solving, Decimals, Fractions & Percentages, Equations & Expressions, Perimeter, Area & Volume, Scale Drawing, 2D & 3D Shapes and related properties such as Nets, Surface Area, Time, Timetables & Temperature, Measurement as well as C0-ordinates.
We finished the final topic Exponential & Logarithmic Functions tying in some of the work done in Unit 1 – Straight Line. The work deals with the logarithmic graph, the laws of logarithm and relating these to gradients & straight line graphs.
The work can be found on the MyMaths website under Library – A Level – Core 2 – Logs – Exponential Graphs; Rules of Logs & Log Equations as well as Library – A Level – Core 3 – Exponentials – Exponential Function; The Natural Log; Graphs and Growth & Decay.
Pupils were directed to a succession of videos amounting to an hour in duration to further their understanding of the exponential function on the website http://www.albartlett.org/presentations/arithmetic_population_energy.html which was given by Albert A. Bartlett (1923-2013) who was Professor Emeritus in Nuclear Physics at University of Colorado at Boulder. He gave his celebrated one-hour lecture, “Arithmetic, Population and Energy: Sustainability 101” over 1,742 times to audiences from junior high school and college students to corporate executives and scientists, and to congressional staffs. He first gave the talk in September, 1969, and subsequently has presented it an average of once every 8.5 days for 36 years.
Professor Bartlett gave a basic introduction to the arithmetic of steady growth, including an explanation of the concept of doubling time. He explained the impact of unending steady growth on the population of Boulder, of Colorado, and of the world. He then examined the consequences steady growth in a finite environment and observed this growth as applied to fossil fuel consumption, the lifetime of which is much shorter than the optimistic figures most often quoted.
The class had been issued with a Practice NAB to have been completed by Thursday 27th March, and we then went through this detailing where the marks are awarded and the threshold scores required for each outcome before sitting the actual NAB on Friday 28th March.
We continued the National 5 work with the first unit – Applications, with the topic Trigonometry. We continued with the Cosine Rule, using it to calculate missing sides, followed by missing angles. This can be found on the MyMaths website under Library – Shape – Trigonometry – Cosine Rule Sides. This led onto the Cosine Rule which involved missing angles – Library – Shape – Trigonometry – Cosine Rule Angles. The class were reminded that they should remember how to round answers to a specified number of significant figures – Library – Number – Estimating and Accuracy – Significant Figures. Towards the end of the week, the class got onto the mixed exercise whereby they would need to decide which formula to use in order to solve a more typical problem similar to the type that would be in the National 5 exam.
We also had a brief look at the other types of question that the class would cover over the course of the National 5 course as this first topic is one of the easiest in the course whereas the rest of the work would be more challenging and as such pupils would be expected to work a lot harder and that they would need to put in more of an effort in order to understand the work. Some examples of the topics are Surds & Indices; Algebraic Fractions; Factorising a Quadratic; Sketching a Quadratic and Trigonometric Equations. All of which can be found on the MyMaths website for anyone wishing to investigate the work that they would have to complete over the next year of the National 5 course.
We again had more practice of Non-Calculator work on Percentages as well as Fractions as these are interchangeable.
