Extending Our Maths Students
Maths Enrichment Club is a co-curricular enrichment program that allows talented maths students to extend their knowledge through competition and exploration by solving challenging maths questions.Â
The program runs after school for students from Years 7 – 10. The girls are invited to the program through identification by their mathematics teacher or Head of Mathematics, Rachael Grieves.
Rachael explains, “Our Maths Enrichment Club is formed by students selected from previous exemplary performance in mathematics, along with nominations from their mathematics teacher. There are also some students who have a love of mathematics and problem solving and choose to apply by emailing through an expression of interest. Through enriching and challenging tasks, students spend an extended time working through one or two problems, in a collaborative environment.
Through this program, students develop a variety of skills. Currently, they are learning how to apply quadratic functions to solve real-life problems. These valuable skills can then be applied post-school, in business and enterprise, engineering, infrastructure, bridge design and defence, just to name a few. The girls learn to use a Casio Classpad to model questions in terms of given conditions, visualise and provide solutions to those question.
Students can expect to further their skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, and spatial visualization to deliver a solution or an idea for a product.Â
The experience for the girls to encounter unfamiliar problem scenarios helps them to develop resilience by putting the posed challenges in a different light, hence, taking calculated risks to tackle them. This cultivates grit, an attribute that successful students characteristically exhibit.
The program hones critical thinking and will lead to more situational and social awareness and career readiness.Â
Often, solving a problem is the fruit of teamwork. The safe and controlled climate in the Maths Club teaches the girls to be discerning, and together with their group members, they learn how to come up with determining questions to power through a challenge.Â
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Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
