Statistics: Loopy aeroplanes
View Sequence overviewData provides evidence to inform our decisions.
Whole class
Loopy aeroplanes PowerPoint
Each student
Fly-off Student sheet
Equipment to make a loopy aeroplane – a paper straw, coloured paper, scissors, tape, and a ruler
Lesson
Revise with students their conclusions from the investigation so far. Make sure they provide evidence from the data. For example, students may have observed from the data that:
- planes with a smaller loop at the front are likely to fly further.
- small- and medium-sized loops tend to work better than larger loops.
- normal and wide loops tend to be better than narrow loops.
Explain to the students that they will each get to make one last aeroplane. They need to use what they have learnt through the investigation to design and make a loopy aeroplane that they think will fly the furthest. The aeroplane that they make will be used in a class fly-off. Each person will be able to throw their plane twice, and the plane that goes the furthest will be judged the winner.
Provide students with the equipment and the time to make their final loopy aeroplane.
Hold a class fly-off to decide on the winner of the loopy aeroplane competition.
Rich assessment tasks
Learning is personally constructed and is shaped by the social activity of the classroom. Good assessment should also reflect this view. Assessment in mathematics, more than any other subject, is often driven by pen and paper tests. These tests indicate what students can do. They rarely allow students to show what they understand, or their beliefs and attitudes about mathematics. It is important to assess what students can do, so we know what we need to teach. However, this should just form one small part of our assessment practices in mathematics.
This is an open, rich learning activity that can be used as an assessment of what students have learnt. We can describe it as an “assessment as learning” and an “assessment of learning” task. The openness of the task allows students to use what they have learnt across the sequence and to show what they understand.
Learning is personally constructed and is shaped by the social activity of the classroom. Good assessment should also reflect this view. Assessment in mathematics, more than any other subject, is often driven by pen and paper tests. These tests indicate what students can do. They rarely allow students to show what they understand, or their beliefs and attitudes about mathematics. It is important to assess what students can do, so we know what we need to teach. However, this should just form one small part of our assessment practices in mathematics.
This is an open, rich learning activity that can be used as an assessment of what students have learnt. We can describe it as an “assessment as learning” and an “assessment of learning” task. The openness of the task allows students to use what they have learnt across the sequence and to show what they understand.