This article for teachers outlines one school's research project to explore how children, girls in particular, could be motivated in Maths through a more practical approach.
Using your knowledge of the properties of numbers, can you fill all the squares on the board?
While musing about the difficulties children face in comprehending number structure, notation, etc., it occured to the author that there is a vast array of occasions when numbers and signs are used in anomalous ways; often these are at the earliest stages, when they must be enormously confusing. However, they also frequently happen in adult situations.
The triathlon is a physically gruelling challenge. Can you work out which athlete burnt the most calories?
A monkey with peaches, keeps a fraction of them each day, gives the rest away, and then eats one. How long can his peaches last?
Place four pebbles on the sand in the form of a square. Keep adding as few pebbles as necessary to double the area. How many extra pebbles are added each time?
How many moves does it take to swap over some red and blue frogs? Do you have a method?
