One Day Teachers' Workshop

Talk 1: Mathematics Projects & Their Implementation

Speaker: Professor Koh Khee Meng

Abstract:

The one hour talk will begin by discussing what a mathematics project is. Not every endeavour which involves numbers or is presented with statistics can be considered a mathematics project! The motivation, approach, techniques and reasoning are very important. The talk will then explain the rationale for embarking on mathematics projects and highlight their benefits for students and teachers. The criteria for a mathematics project to be rated a good one will be explicated in some detail.

Professor Koh will then go on to explain how to carry out a mathematics project, making clear the stages involved and just as importantly the sources for motivation, inspiration, and content knowledge and techniques. The final outcome in terms of the report and presentation will be discussed. Suggestions for teachers as supervisors, especially on matters of guiding the students, will be given.

Hands-on:
The one hour talk will be followed with a half-hour group work on planning for two projects:
(1) The Theorem of Pythagoras, and
(2) The Area of a Triangle

Talk 2: Mathematics Projects – Assessment and Further Generation of Ideas

Speaker: Dr Tay Eng Guan

Abstract:

The talk will reinforce the criteria for a good mathematics project brought up in the first session. More details and examples will be given based on the speaker’s experience as a judge at previous project competitions.

Dr Tay will then use the criteria as a base from which to generate more ideas for projects that would be deemed ‘mathematical’. Examples from school syllabus questions, from daily life and from undergraduate engineering calculus projects will be given. Participants will also be given time to brainstorm possible projects and discuss these with their partners.

Talk 3: Mathematics Projects – Resources, Ideas and Tools

Speaker: Dr Chua Seng Kiat

Abstract:

The talk will address the following 3 points in doing Mathematical projects:

• Where are the resources for Mathematical projects?
• How to generate interesting ideas for Mathematical projects?
• How to use IT tools in Mathematical project investigation?

The speaker will begin by giving a list of resources for Mathematical projects. They will include resources from Internet, books, magazines, etc. By using these resources, the speaker will give some ideas on how to suggest interesting problems as topics for Mathematical projects. Finally, the speaker will give some examples on how sample IT tools such as Excel and Geometer’s Sketchpad can be used in project investigation.