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Magic Penny Learning Notes: PatagoniaMath
Magic Penny PatagoniaMath Frames
- novel teaching aids / manipulatives
Encouraging:
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School children in Cerro Condor Argentina learning with PatagoniaMath coin frames
Click photo to enlarge (75K)
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A hexagonal PatagoniaMath Can Frame filled with drinks cans of different colours
Click photo to enlarge (99K)
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- interest in mathematics, art, design and engineering
- creativity
- dexterity
- strategic planning
- group cooperation and management
Suitability: adaptable for any age
Equipment:
specially designed frames carefully constructed so as to:
- snugly enclose hexagonal close packed or square arrays of 169 objects of similar circular cross-section, such as checkers, coins, cans, canisters, bottles or buttons
- permit the objects to be removed, or rearranged easily
- permit the objects to remain in particular configurations in a horizontal or possible sloping or vertical position
Activity Examples
- making patterns with the objects for which the frame was designed
- investigating symmetry
- investigating how the maximum number of objects can be stacked
within a square
- investigating squares, rightangled triangles and pythagorean triples
- analysing the relationships between the number of objects in a hexagonal array and the number along each side
- analysing the relationships between the dimensions of the frames
and the dimensions of the particular objects.
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using sloping or vertical frames, experimenting into:
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how objects of circular cross-section can be stacked either close packed,or, in rows and vertical columns
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how objects in some positions can be removed without affecting the stability whereas others cannot
- how with some structures physical constraints are needed to achieve stability
- working as a team against the clock or other teams, mentally or physically, for example developing the most efficient way of undertaking particular manual tasks
- creative decoration /labelling / numbering of frames and objects
- consideration of related activities, including using several frames, to stimulate interest in mathematics art, design and engineering
Based on: - the Golden Hexagon of Patagonia
License/Copyright: Magic Penny Trust
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© Magic Penny Trust, 2001