SIMON PAMPENA
 
 
 
 
 

Workshops

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give your students aN adventure in mathematics with one of the many WONDERFUL workshops we have developed to engage and inspire.

workshops ARE TAILORED FOR MATHS TOPICS FROM middle PRIMARY THROUGH TO late secondary.

 

Trihexaflexagons

General Audience

Years 5 - 8

 
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DESCRIPTION

A creative and highly accessible workshop that introduces the concept of mirror symmetry via the mind-bending properties of trihexaflexagons. Students construct their own trihexaflexagon and explore how each side transforms happy faces to sad ones and cats into owls. They then design their own version, setting loose their creativity while at the same time cementing their understanding.

age groups

Suitable for Years 5 to 8

attendance

Suitable for groups from 20 to 60

 

duration

Content adaptable from 30 to 60 mins

content

  • Printed Colour Trihexaflexagons

  • Blank Trihexaflexagons

  • Mirror Symmetry

  • General Symmetry

RESOURCES

How to make a trihexaflexagon

The symmetry within the trihexaflexagon

 
 

sports statistics

General Audience

Years 7 - 9

 
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DESCRIPTION

Is it possible to know which sports team won a match without knowing the final score? Absolutely - but only if you have access to vital game statistics. The number pf passes, kicks, and tackles along with accuracy and possession can provide more than enough information to work out who was the winner, as long as you know how to read it. In this group activity students are given sports statistics in their code of choice - Australian rules or rugby league - and through these stats alone are guided to discover who won a match. The activity culminates in the nail-biting discovery of who won the championship and an exciting lesson in the power of statistics!

AGE GROUPS

Suitable for Years 7 to 9

 

attendance

Suitable for groups from 20 to 60

DURATION

Content adaptable between 30 and 60 mins

CONTENT

  • Percentages

  • Inequalities

  • Basic Statistics

 
 

 ERROR CORRECTing CODES

General Audience

Years 9 - 12

 
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DESCRIPTION

A fun group workshop which introduces and explores the mathematics of error correcting codes. Whenever digital information is sent, some of it is lost due to errors and static. To compensate for these losses extra data is transmitted along with the original message as a buffer. Different methods of data buffering are explored in this activity until the group finds the right one to get the job done - a Sudoku. The result is a dynamic and playful activity involving the entire audience.

AGE GROUPS

Suitable for Years 9 to 12

 

attendance

Suitable for groups from 20 to 60

DURATION

Content adaptable from 30 to 60 mins

content

  • Methods in error detection and correction

  • Sudoku

Resources

Getting the message - a break in transmission

Getting the message - the activity

 

The Art of Problem Solving

Advanced Maths Students

Years 9 - 12

 
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DESCRIPTION

A stimulating workshop on abstract problem solving and mathematical proofs. Starting with different proofs for the infinitude of integers we move to proving the infinitude of just the primes. Students are guided to find the patterns in numbers that are used to prove each result. The workshop explores different types of mathematical argument culminating in a visual proof for why the seam on a tennis ball must always have antipodal points - a surprising a deeply satisfying theorem. By the end of these activities students will have been given a taste of what research mathematicians do and have experienced the intellectual excitement of solving difficult problems.

AGE GROUPS

Suitable for Years 9 to 12

 

ATTENDANCE

Suitable for advanced maths students +12 years old

DURATION

Content adaptable from 30 to 60 mins

CONTENT

  • Proof for the infinitude of integers

  • Proof for the infinitude of primes

  • Proof for the irrationality of the square root of 2

  • A special proof about antipodal points on a sphere

Resources

Antipodal points on a sphere - Numberphile


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