Crystal Maze - March 09

Over 170 children from Siddington, Rodmarton, Chesterton, Powells and Stratton schools visited Cirencester Deer Park School to take part in the Maths problem solving challenge, Crystal Maze, on 26th/27th March which was run by Mr van Wyk and Mrs Bond.

The children worked successfully in small groups to solve maths problems from round the world. They looked at number patterns, shapes and made calculations to solve the clues. The game involved visiting six areas and playing mathematical games in each of them. They were Europe, China, India, Egypt, Africa and UK. Each game involved a theme based on the country and the prize would be a crystal which would buy time in a balloon filled paddling pool.

Games varied from matching European flags to descriptions based on their symmetry to an Egyptian based game which involved putting a jigsaw together of Tutankhamen. When mentioned that they had all done over an hour’s maths, one child exclaimed, “it shows children who don’t particularly like maths that it can actually be fun”. Another child from another school said, “ the tangram was challenging but fun to solve with the help of friends”.

There was so much excitement as they supported each other to complete the puzzles in 3 minutes. After, they all had a chance to collect dominoes from a balloon filled pool and had to check for even numbers. They had to careful not to knock any balloons out of the pool or drop any dominoes on the ground or they forfeited time in the balloon pool. They all worked well as a team and were a credit to their schools.

Mrs Bond summed it, “ the children were enthusiastic and supported each other to enable them to solve the problem. They were all very well behaved and a credit to themselves and their schools. There was a buzz of excitement as they tackled the new maths areas. They didn’t realise that they had worked on maths for over an hour!”

Powells pupils solving the Egyptian puzzle

Stratton School were collecting dominoes in the balloon pool, sorting them into odd and even and then adding up the totals