Noble, and other Maths teachers and parents, do you have any good suggestions on Nrich?

[user789653241]

We finally did the "Peaches Today" problem on nrich, (nrich.maths.org/2312)suggested by Noble, and my ds really enjoyed it. (But I wasn't sure Q3 was actually right or wrong, since it looked like open ended and you can do what ever you like.)

Anyways, even we love nrich site very much, I struggle to navigate it.
Do you have any suggestion on problem your children/pupils enjoyed?

nrich.maths.org/2312

For what age/ability level?

He is 8, Yr3. He got level4 for teacher assessment end of YR2.
He is good with mental maths, not so good with ones that needs taking time to solve. So, I would like him to build up more resilience/thinking ability, so he can tackle difficulties without giving up too soon.

We love the nrich site too but also find it hard to navigate!

Am I right in thinking from what you've posted that he's very quick at calculation but struggles more to explain his thinking - reasoning? This is very common, especially amongst able mathematicians who "just know" an answer but can find it almost impossible to explain why. In which case, I went on to nrich and put reasoning into the search box and then selected key stage 2. Within that I could choose from 7 problems, but there are also a number of articles you might find it useful to read to give you ideas of how you can help him to develop his reasoning skills.

I've read quite a bit of persuasive research recently (Jo Boaler, Mike Askew) which points out that school maths often values speed in calculations whereas real world maths isn't interested in that. Real world maths is about thinking and reasoning and taking as much time as you need.

Thank you toomuchicecream. "put reasoning into the search box", is a very good idea! I can't believe I've never came up with that.

We are successfully navigating nrich by using search function. It's a lot easier to find suitable problem than just clicking randomly. Thanks again, toomuch!

Glad to have helped - if only all problems were solved so easily....