Resilience and Perseverance

In this feature, we have chosen problems designed to promote a positive attitude to challenging mathematical situations. The article, Getting into and Staying in the Growth Zone is packed with information and advice on helping your students become less anxious and more resilient.

$Getting \into and staying in the Growth Zone$

article

Getting into and staying in the growth zone

In this article for teachers, Clare Lee and Sue Johnston-Wilder explain how the Growth Zone model can help develop resilience in our learners.

problem

Caterpillars

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

These caterpillars have 16 parts. What different shapes do they make if each part lies in the small squares of a 4 by 4 square?

problem

Find the difference

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

Place the numbers 1 to 6 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.

problem

Inside triangles

Age

5 to 7

Challenge level

How many different triangles can you draw which each have one dot in the middle?

problem

Ladybird box

Age

5 to 11

Challenge level

Place six toy ladybirds into the box so that there are two ladybirds in every column and every row.

problem

Twenty divided into six

Age

7 to 11

Challenge level

Katie had a pack of 20 cards numbered from 1 to 20. She arranged the cards into 6 unequal piles where each pile added to the same total. What was the total and how could this be done?