NRICH's Lower Secondary – Thinking Mathematically module is full of challenging activities organized into sets that focus on the processes of solving math problems, rather than on the individual math skills being covered. Kids must think critically as they tackle these content-rich problems. Areas of focus include strategic thinking, modeling, exploring, posing questions, reasoning, justifying, and more. These activities are best for kids in grades 5-12, though many can be used in lower grades for more advanced students. Because of the challenging nature of the problems, it's ideal if kids can work in small groups to solve them. Assign an activity, ask students to share their results with the class, and then review the solution together as a whole class -- just make sure that kids don't read the solution, first. Some activities require hands-on materials, so plan ahead.
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