session 2

Numbers?

What are numbers for?

Is it a Cardinal number or Ordinal? Or is it Nominal number or Measurement number?

 

WOW!

I had not come to this terms before.

 

I always thought that numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 all the way till infinity.

Today, I get to know the different uses of number; Cardinal, Ordinal, Nominal, Measurement.

 

1) Cardinal-calculating quantity (example: 10 packets of rice)

2) Ordinal-indicating position (example: 4th place in race)

3) Nominal-a name for it (example: Bus 8, F1)

4) Measurement-time and space

 

 

Unknowingly, through the in-class activities, we are dealing with numbers.

Addition and subtraction, multiplication and division.

 

It is interesting how Dr Yeap introduce us the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ol1h9VB4Lyk) and gives us opportunities to count how many were going to St. Ives? 

It goes like this:

There is a man who has 7 wives,

each wife has 7 sacks,

each sack consists of 7 cats,

and each cat has 7 kittens.

 

 

In the video, the answer was adding the total number of kittens with cats with sacks with wives and man.

However, we should not include sack as sack is of different noun.

 

I like the way Dr Yeap relate to this problem and explain to us that we cannot count if it is of different noun.

(it is like adding apples to oranges)

 

Dr Yeap also mentioned reasons why children cannot count.

The reasons are that children are not able to do the following:

1) classify

2) do rote counting

3) one-to-one correspond

4) appreciate that the last number represent the size of the set

 

The part that I love about the class is about the kidney beans.

In pair, we were supposed to take a handful of beans and take turns to count down by 1 or 2.

The objective was to countdown to 0.

I kept losing the game to my partner consecutively, until I figured out a pattern.

The person with 3 beans will lose,

because if the person count down by one, partner will count down by 2 and win the game.

and if the person count down by two, partner will count down by 1 and still win the game.

 

It is really a game about strategy; to try to count down to a number which is advantage to you instead of your partner.

 

 

Moving on, we talked about the usage of ten frames to solve problem!

(which in this case, to calculate the number of beans that giant had given Jack. Giant initially gave Jack 5 beans, then 7 beans and lastly 6 beans)

There are various methods to derive to 18 as the total number of beans that giant had given Jack.

One method is through counting.

Another method is to shift the kidney beans in the ten frames and realise one ten frame is filled, and another is filled with only 8 kidney beans, which makes it 18 too.

Of course, we can use 30 minus the number of empty space in the ten frame.

 

It is easy to make a ten frame.
This is an idea, using egg cartons!

I believe children will love playing and exploring with the ten frames,
preferably concrete materials.

I shall do it soon for the children in my class!
Signing off-
Teacher Huimin