Mathematics education uncovered and recovered

Key Stage 3

The root mystery

What is \(\sqrt{25}\)? You probably know but let’s see what textbooks say. One Year 7 textbook explains: Key point: The inverse of square is square root. \(3^{2}=9 \enspace \) so the square root of  \(9=\sqrt{9}=3\)   However, just next to this explanation there is a copy-and-complete exercise that reminds students that both \(4^{2}  \) and \((-4)^{2} \) […]

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Power of words

That was hard. My 12-year-old student struggled with angles. Why is one angle greater than another? How do we measure angles? When do we need to add them? She couldn’t get her head round these questions, and I couldn’t work out why. She started to get more and more confused and upset, so I gave […]

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