I'm Eight


This lesson is the best number investigation that I have ever done in mixed ability classes ranging from children aged 7 years to 11 years. When using it in a class situation I have had the children brainstorming ideas and what I have done, for what it's worth, has been as follows:-

1) Vaguely grouped the suggestions into the separate 4 rules of number, + - $\times$ $\div$.

2) Asked the youngsters if there are any more, and just inserted etc. if they thought so.

3) Pointed out that they had used 2 numbers for each suggestion; could they use 3 or 4 numbers and by adding get to 8?

4) Asked if they could start with a biggish number and then take some away and then have to take some more away in order to end up with only 8.

5) If and when slip ups occur (suppose they have suggested 15 - 6 - 6) I would ask what has to happen to the answer so far so that the answer can get to 8.

6) Talk with the children about the fact they they can use any mathematics that they understand as long as the answer is 8.

7) Then they're off on their own to work on this.

Sometimes youngsters do things that surprise their teachers, e.g.

1) A very bright pupil continues with loads and loads of subtractions raising the starting number by just one each time. My own feeling is that I'll allow that to happen for the first two or three lessons in which I use this starting point. If they carry on in the next lesson I would encourage them to venture further. Usually there is no need, they have already changed things. Maybe the pupil just had to work at something they felt very confident with, or maybe they just liked the patterns that came from the work.

2) Sometimes when children have written something very confidently you can ``Dangle a carrot'' in front of them and ask them if they know anything about halves or quarters, and if so they could use them also. Very often pupils have done so when they have received no formal teaching of that subject yet.

Well, good luck with this, and make it an enjoyable experience for the pupils giving them the understanding that they have the right to make so many choices for themselves.