Geometry – the School of Thinking

ONLINE Senior Maths and Programming Camp for Years 3 to 11

26-30 July 2021

 

Geometry is one of the most fascinating areas of maths. Natural mathematicians appreciate its logic, while the pictorial nature of the subject can draw more reluctant pupils into the world of understanding spatial relationship, calculations and proofs. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers (arithmetic).

The aim of this camp is broad - to deepen children's knowledge and understanding of particular aspects of geometry which will be taught through explanation and problem solving. By engaging with rich geometrical tasks, children will not only grapple with geometrical concepts and further their own understanding, but they will also have opportunities to refine their problem-solving skills.

At the start we take an exciting tour of the archeology of geometry, looking to Babylon and Euclid’s ancient Greece where the word geometry came from (geo = earth, metron = measurement). The subject arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. We’ll look at its practical applications, originally in surveying, construction and astronomy and move through to its importance in programming today.
 

In Programming,  depending on each child’s previous experience and knowledge, children will learn about the applications of geometry in the real world. These include computer-aided design for construction blueprints, the design of assembly systems in manufacturing, nanotechnology, computer graphics, visual graphs, video game programming and virtual reality creation.

Places are limited, please register your interest HERE.  

In Maths, despite some natural development of spatial thinking, deliberate instruction is needed to move children through several levels of geometric understanding and reasoning skill. While older children will be ready to study Euclidian ideas, younger campers will be taught through the visual (non verbal thinking), descriptive and informal deduction method which will help them to understand the subject rather than having to memorise geometric facts and 'rules' by rote, which does not generate an understanding of the relationships between ideas.

All year groups will have two daily classes, one on geometry and one on problem solving when children will tackle different levels of UKMT challenges from the Primary Maths Challenge and International Kangaroo up to more senior levels looking at Combinatorics, Number Theory and Senior UKMT challenges.

Here are more details of what will be studied by each Year group:

Years 3-6

Geometry: pupils will work on tasks related to shapes and their properties. They will find the areas and perimeters of shapes ranging from very simple to complex cases, explore symmetry and other transformations and create tessellations using regular polygons and polyominoes. In problem solving lessons, pupils will work on past problems from the UK and international mathematics competitions for their age groups.

Years 7-9

Geometry: the focus of the week will be on geometric proofs where we will use the congruence of triangles to derive numerous interesting properties of polygons. Pupils will become familiar with the logic of proofs and learn about direct and converse statements in the context of geometrical objects.In problem solving lessons, the pupils will work on past problems from the UK and international mathematics competitions for their age groups.

Years 10-11

Geometry: pupils will tackle a series of problems from all areas of geometry with the focus on specific methods of solving them. They will learn to apply properties of similar shapes to prove both well-known and less-familiar theorems. Considering areas and their relationships provides another useful approach that pupils will practise to find unknown lengths and ratios in geometrical settings. In problem solving lessons, pupils will work on past problems from the UK and international mathematics competitions for their age groups.

Format and fees for the senior online camp:

  • class sizes are six pupils or fewer of similar age and ability
  • each day runs for six hours with four one hour classes and strategic breaks from the screen between them
  • class times are: 10.00-11.00, 11.30-12.30, 13.30-14.30, 15.00-16.00
  • all classes are interactive, using Zoom, with pupils solving problems with the teacher and with each other  
  • pupils must have a PC or laptop (Windows or Mac OS) with a camera and mic and a stable internet connection.
  • fees are £500 for five days.  Bookings of fewer days are not possible for this camp

Places are limited, please register your interest HERE.