Fantastic Numeracy PD

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of sitting in on some of a Numeracy PD session run by Jo Knox. This was really exciting for two main reasons: 
#1. I love Numeracy 
#2 It fits my Spark-MIT inquiry! 
I arrived when the small groups were discussing measurement in non-standard units. They had a photocopy of a hand and were discussing how to measure it. 

The question was then asked - if this is the giant's hand, how tall is the giant? (What an awesome idea - I thought to myself!) This was such a rich and engaging task - we discussed a wide range of math: measurement, averaging, statistics, ratios, number, units. 
Then Jo read a section from the BFG - what a way to tie in literacy and math! It was about determining what they would need for the Queen's Dinner for the giant. "If the average human is 6ft and the giant is 24ft then the difference would be x4. Therefore if the average chair was 2ft it would have to be 8ft for the giant!" (#awesome #maththisfun #loveit) 
I later found that this was a unit from nzmath called Giant Mystery. 

We were then asked to look at page 13-14 of Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics and discuss whether we felt that this was a worthwhile task or what a worthwhile task would look like. Of course, the general consensus was that the task was open, engaging, involved thinking skills, included challenge and encouraged us to think mathematically. Therefore, the task was worthwhile! 

The thing I liked the most about the session was how enthusiastic and engaged all the staff were. The tasks Jo used engaged everyone, across all levels and made proportions and rations fun! 
Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your PD Point England and thank you Jo for inspiring teachers to make math enjoyable for all! 

Reflecting on where to next for me and my inquiry - I think I need to add a tab for rich and open math tasks on my sharebase - give one, get one.... Yes!