Wednesday 24 August 2016

The Fibonacci Sequence

This is sooooo awesome and sooooo relevant because...


I did a problem solving activity the other day with the class, they were given clues to figure out the numbers on a set of combination locks. I really thought it would be easy for them, but it was more of a challenge (for them) than I thought. There were a few learners in the learning pit that lesson!
Anyway, once they had figured out the ones they'd been given, I asked them to devise their own set of 4 numbers and matching clues. Numbers could be anywhere between 0 and 39.
Off they happily went, creating problems and clues for others to solve, most using basic facts. I reminded them of other ways we could create number clues, resulting in how many days in... and letter places in the alphabet.
But Finn K created his with way more challenging clues. One of his related to the Fibonacci sequence. I was not sure that any of the children would know about it, and rather than me explain, I thought it would be great for Finn to be the teacher. Math talk came into it, the method had to be revoiced and repeated many times before I was certain everyone understood. The whole time I was thinking about how I could use this in art, especially since the children seemed quite into continuing the pattern way past the point of 55 (which was more than the 39 limit!) but anyway, then I found this awesome youtube clip and I got all excited about sharing it with the children.
Funny how I wasn't even looking for stuff about the Fibonacci sequence, but maybe it's only because I was aware of it, being a recent discussion in my classroom, that it popped out at me. So expect some nice spirally maths art coming soon!

1 comment:

  1. Wow! I had never heard of the Fibonacci sequence, but I see how relevant it is in nature around us. I am looking forward to seeing the art!

    ReplyDelete