Let’s Think Secondary Maths, Lesson 5 – The Reading Challenge
Overview
Thinking Strands: Data handling and representation
Learners are challenged to build upon the notion of number carriers they first encountered in
Roofs. The basis of the lesson is the systematic organising of teams to play in a league (see video
tutorial for details of this due to the ambiguity built into the lesson) to find the total number of
games played. In organising teams the move towards the use of expressions comes from the
systematic recording/listing of the matches played. The rule developed allows the expression for
any number of teams to be written.
Aims
 To recognise the need for systematic listing to spot patterns.
 To express patterns using the ‘nth’ term and to make predictions based upon this.
 To explore the use of algebraic symbols in a range of expressions derived from everyday
scenarios.
Vocabulary
Most common, mode, range, tally, hypothesis, prediction, sample
In-school resource preparation
Materials – Supplied
 Resource Sheet A: Family reading (Hook)
 Resource Sheet B: Jimmy’s Story sample
 Resource Sheet C: tally table (not produced yet).
Materials – Not supplied
 Books, newspaper for demonstration and sampling.
Note – this lesson is built around a narrative, underpinned by a real-life scenario, that leads the
class to develop a hypothesis that is explored and proved to be incorrect. Further investigations
are then possible. The video tutorial guides you through the way to set up the challenge this
lesson is built upon.
Hook: The illustration sets the scene; two children are arguing over whether the book of the
youngest is a ‘baby’ book. The class are invited to describe the potential difference between
books for 6 year olds and those of children in Year 7. Most groups focus on the idea that books
for younger children have shorter words, 3 letters long, while those for secondary aged children
are much longer. This can be formulated into a working hypothesis that is explored during the
rest of the lesson.
Activity 1: Introduce Jimmy’s Story and the sample text, asking the pupils to tally the first 20
words. A brief discussion should elicit the main feature i.e. that the mode is 5 letters. Invite the
learners to discuss, and predict, the mode from a newspaper (the Guardian works well) and
ensure that the main ideas and prediction is recorded for all to see. Distribute pages from the
newspaper and allow the pupils to tally 20 words. As the class begin to see that the modal word
length for the Guardian is 3 letters encourage pairs to work together to share their findings and
thoughts.
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The discussion that ensues is built around this counter-intuitive finding that is contrary to the
hypothesis. The challenge for many learners is visual i.e. they can see the mode for JS while that
for the newspaper is lower. Allow plenty of time for the class to discuss the possible causes for
this. If a suitable reference to the fact that the words in the JS sample is 20 words are all long
names look for opportunities to raise the fact the initial sample is unrepresentative. Do not rush
this discussion or lead it too much – encourage the learners to reflect back and to look at both
texts.
Activity 2: The realisation that sample Jimmy’s Story is not representative will lead the class
to 1 of 2 actions:
1. Taking a new sample from JS which will show that the mode drops to 3 or,
2. Taking new samples from both texts which will similarly show that the mode from both
texts is 3.
This activity can be cut short once they realise that both modes are 3. The resulting discussion
can focus upon:
 Why the commonest word is 3 letters long in both texts?
 What is the difference between texts for different audiences?
 Why was it helpful to take a new sample and what effect did it have?
 What did it feel like when they saw that the newspaper mode was lower?
End of activity reflection: Encourage the learners to reflect upon times when they have
changed their minds after taking another ‘sample’ and apply the ideas from this lesson to
other contexts. Given the richness of this activity it will be interesting to find out what your
learners think about the structure of this lesson and the challenges involved.
Notes
During joint planning ensure you:
This activity involves setting the pupils up with a challenge that is built upon them making an
incorrect hypothesis. How will you ensure you ‘set’ them up and not lead them towards the
‘correct’ answer? How could you apply this to other lessons so the correct answer is hidden and
needs discovering through a collective effort.
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