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G4-5 Math Week: Exploring the Mystery of Mathematics, Measuring the Unknowns

November 16, 2022

The famous mathematician Hua Luogeng once said, “the massiveness of the universe, the tininess of particles, the speed of rockets, the ingeniousness of chemicals, the changing of the earth, the mystery of biology, nothing in life can develop without mathematics.” Mathematics is everywhere in life. Math Week of G4 and G5 students in SHSID have also witnessed this.

G4 Math Week: A Collection of Math Games – Solving Math Puzzles

G4 students are fully immersed in the fun of solving math puzzles and working out logic questions. They have also started the planning of the project of “Chinese New Year Party”.

In the grand competition of 24 points, students competed to show their methods of solving problems. Using four operations, students tried to calculate the result of 4 numbers as quickly as possible. Facing tower of Hanoi which derived from an ancient Indian legend, students managed to move disks from one rod to another, sticking to the rule of keeping disks from the smallest to biggest in order to find the solution of the legend. When meeting detective problems, students worked together to find out the truth and find the criminals. What’s more, students explored one-touch drawing using mathematical knowledge and solving crosswords using calculation. During math week, G4 students have rediscovered math in their lives.

Meanwhile, another problem – how to plan a Chinese New Year Party – was up to be solved. Students built up teams, distributed jobs and responsibilities and started to plan for the Chinese New Year party. They created surveys with lists of possible souvenirs and games, as well as the appropriate length of the party to learn about the preferences of potential party guests. Based on the results of the survey, students chose party souvenirs, games, and arrangements to make their parties more popular.

G5 Math Week: Exploring Zhongxing Building – Using Indirect Measurement

G5 students have learned indirect measurement during Math Week. They explored around the campus to find body rulers and alternative rulers in their lives.

Through trying, checking, and revising, students measured and worked out the average length of their steps and used step length to measure Zhongxing Building. They have also explored body rulers, such as length of the arm, width of the palm, length between the fingertips of the thumb and the index finger. In addition, students looked for alternative rulers at home and in school. They managed to measure the length and width of laptops using pens, the length of cabinets using contact books, the height of desks using water bottles and so on.

Not long after they had managed indirect measurement, students found more challenging problems such as finding out the height of Zhongxing Building as well as the perimeter and area of the ice rink and Zhongxing Lake. They mastered the methods very quickly. Our students first measured the length of their shadows and then that of Zhongxing Building using indirect measurement. After that, they worked out the height of Zhongxing Building and then tried to work on the areas of our ice rink and Zhongxing Lake, which was an unprecedented challenge. By counting squares to find out the area, students counted the number of squares on grid paper and then calculated the area proportionally. Through all this, students have revealed the mystery of Zhongxing Building during Math Week.

Famous mathematician Pythagoras once said, "In the field of mathematics, what matters is not what we know, but how we know it." During Math Week, our G4-5 students at Puxi campus actively delved into the unknown and used math knowledge they have learned to solve problems, discovering the ubiquitous of math in life.

Written by Yuanxin Wang

Pictures by G4-5 Math Team

Edited by Serene Yang, Niall Keenan