Using TASC to Structure a Maths Investigation

Abstract

I've used this investigation with Year 2, children (aged 7 years) with active support and intervention, across the Key Stage 2 (aged 8 to 11 years) and with many staff groups to illustrate the value of using TASC to promote learning in Maths. Multiplication Tables are a very important tool (a lot of other activities in Maths depend on our knowledge of our tables), but are often taught in an unimaginative, passive or rote-learning way. The problem with this can be that previous knowledge is rewarded rather than today's learning. Although, at heart, this problem involves a simple multiplication table, pupils will get far more from it than they would a rote-learning tables activity (and they will practise their tables as well!) The idea is not new (I borrowed it from somewhere, perhaps the Numeracy Strategy Additional Materials), but it is a terrific one for promoting thinking and transferable problem-solving skills.