Page 7 - EIC INTER - Maig 2016

| Especial Setmanes Especials 2016 | Inter. EIC Magazine | 7
maths week

A Kangaroo on the door

ast month we organised schools in this kind of bigger mathematical problems as you
LMaths week. All our teachers project is something that they would do with crosswords on a
explained to us about the next enjoy and value. When asked if Sunday morning on the beach.
week’s activities that we to they would repeat the experience The aim of the whole event,
perform with primary children. they all agree, they will go for it promoting students’ interest for
again. It is not just a matter of how Maths, has been accomplished.
Ms. Gazzola many points they earned, it is not We hope we can keep on doing
The exam-room door is closed, a matter of passing or failing. It is that and more students get
showing a Maths poster with a a matter of enjoying playing with involved with it.
Kangaroo on it (and you might
wonder why a Kangaroo). 30
chairs and 30 desks are waiting Els resultats
for students to sit down and
start their quiz. It is the 7th of designed a maths multiple choice Currently more than 50 Clàudia Chornet Maldonado (Primària 5) està en el top 5% dels
April and the Proves Cangur are quiz that was to be corrected countries join this international estudiants que han participat en les Proves Cangur a Catalunya.
to begin in a matter of minutes. through a computer. In this way, competition and in Catalunya Està en la posició 400, amb un resultat de 76,25.
There they are, 23 pupils from teenagers from different schools alone more than 90000 students primària 5
Vilaseca and 7 from EIC. They are in Australia could take the same from primary to Baccalaureate El 45% dels nostres estudiants estan en el top 20% dels que van
quiet, concentrating, taking their test at exactly the same time. participated to the event. Among participar en les proves. El 78% dels nostres alumnes estan en
test. They have 75 minutes to go The idea was to create a sense them, we include Joel Cases, Alex el top 50% .
through a set of 30 questions of community and to foster the Keyken, Alex Navarro and Aleix primària 6
related to different branches interest and curiosity for Maths. Serra from Eso 4, Blanca Jofre, El 50% del nostre alumnat està en el top 20% dels participants.
of Maths, including algebra, Thousands of students joined the Marta Van Ginkel and Adrian El 86% està al top 50% .
geometry and logic. After the game, which was a real success. Nenkov Bat 1. ”What I liked the secundària
quiz and chat, we all go to the Ten years later, a couple of French most was the challenge”, says Keyken està en el top 5% dels 9.272 estudiants d'ESo4 que van
forum for a big family photo. teachers decided to do the same Alex Keyken, from ESo 4. Joel participar en les Proves Cangur. La Marta està en el top 21%
We feel really proud we joined thing in their own country, and has a similar opinion: “Questions dels 5.991 estudiants de BAT1 que van participar en les proves.
this competition, not just for they named the competition were original, different from the La Blanca Jofre està en el top 40% aprox. El Joel Cases està en el
the maths, but because of the “Kangaroo”, for obvious reasons. usual ones that you normally find top 50% dels estudiants que van participar en aquestes proves.
spirit behind it. The whole thing Since then, more and more in a workbook”. “These kinds of Felicitats a tots per la seva participació i pels bons resultats
started off with a Kangaroo. In countries joined the French questions are motivating”, adds obtinguts.
the early 80s, a teacher from event, which is changed its name Aleix. Alex Navarro and Blanca
Sidney invented a new game: he to “Kangourou sans Frontières”. also point out that joining other

Maths Week seminars

SO and BAT/IB students Alex Keyken (Eso 4) arrange an event or meeting orbit around the Sun, the year. adjustments, which make the
Eattended a set of The last school week of the without having days, weeks or They only had to count the days year even more exact).
conferences during Maths second term was Maths Week. months to relate that event to? it would take for Sirius, to reach Inventing and creating the leap
Week. The speakers, Associate A week in which we celebrate Ever since the earliest of human the exact same position in the year took long and many things
Professors Anton Aubanell the knowledge that has been times calendars have existed, sky at dawn, but even though happened to the calendar in
(retired secondary teacher and passed on from generation to but where do they come from? they knew that the year had 365 that time. For example, at some
former president of CREAMAT) generation, throughout time. Prof Aubanell tells us the days, they did not know it had point in history we decided to go
and Xavier Jarque (from UB In ESo, apart from many other Romans were the first to create a exactly 365,2425 days. Therefore from the Julian to the Gregorian
and president of the Societat activities, Professor Anton calendar with months and years, over time, the seasons that calendar, and thus, skipped
Catalana de Matemàtiques), Aubanell, a Maths teacher and but they were not the first to the Romans had established, 11 days, going directly from
showed them how Maths is an Associate Professor at UB, create a calendar (that honour stopped coinciding, and they September 2nd 1752 on one
something we use on a daily came to talk about calendars, was probably already taken by had to find a way to adjust their day, to September the 14th the
basis, sometimes without because they are very important other tribes like the Sumerians or calendar. next day (this caused the death
even realising it. If you ever and occupy space on our walls Mesopotamians, who developed The search for a way of making of Shakespeare and Cervantes
wondered why November is for a reason. star-linked calendars). the year more exact continued to coincide by date, but not by
called November (ESO) or what The calendar symbolises the Using a star (Sirius, of the over time, until finally we day, as Shakespeare died on
the prisoner’s dilemma has to attempt humans have made constellation Canis Major, which invented the leap years, in which 23rd April in the UK where they
do with Economics and Maths to measure time. It would be a lies close to orion), the Romans we add a day every four years, used the Julian calendar, and
(BAT/IB), your child might know disaster if we didn't have those managed to discover the time and so the year is now 365,25
the answer. measurements. How could we it takes for the Earth to do one (later there are some more It continues in page 8.