Monday
The Grange’s Problem Solving Week started in assembly with Mr Webb posing a few problems for members of staff to solve. Mr Gould was unable to remove the £20 note from under the bottle, Mr Shepherd could not lift his keys using only a piece of string and when all the staff were given a joint problem to solve, their teamwork strategies were really put to the test!
The school was pleased to welcome Sara Longbottom who challenged each class using NRICH Project activities which are designed to develop problem-solving and mathematical thinking skills. This proved to be fun and challenging for all year groups.
Prep I had the challenge of designing and decorating a sarcophagus in the style of Tutankhamen.
Prep II encountered a wide range of problems in their maths and English lessons, including dividing chocolate bars and arranging tea cups.
Pupils in Prep III had to identify consecutive numbers on hotel doors and were greatly relieved to be taught how to write equations in Excel in order to make the solutions so much easier to find.
In science Prep IV needed to make a ‘run’ from cardboard in order to carry a marble the furthest possible distance.
Tuesday
Mr Webb posed a few more problems for staff and pupils alike in assembly; this time Mrs Jones’ handbag came under scrutiny!
In their maths lesson Prep I had to make as many different symmetrical shapes as they could using 6 coloured tiles; they were allowed to use mirrors to help them. In an earlier event Rohi was able to produce the longest strip of paper cut from one sheet of A4.
Prep II spent their English lesson creating a roog; a creature that needed to fulfil strict criteria yet still allowed the boys’ imagination to go wild. In maths, tactics were the name of the game when they had 50 points to use strategically in order to move through a series of circles.
Prep III had to search for different ways to cut a hole big enough in a piece of A4 paper for everybody to fit through. Tom and Abraham even managed to get through an A6 piece of paper; that is a quarter the size of A4! In history the boys had to make Roman mosaics and catapults.
Prep IV were put into teams of four and had to develop a strategy to quickly complete a 500 piece jigsaw of a continent. A seemingly straightforward challenge produced many new techniques for working as a team. Given a chess board they needed to find a set of moves known as ‘The Knight’s Tour’; the knight goes on every square of the board just once.
Edward's Roog
Wednesday
Today’s events involved sessions with Will Woods from “The Problem Solving Company” (www.theproblemsolvingcompany.co.uk). One exercise involved moving “toxic waste” across the playground without touching it, using ropes. Another was an electronic maze where pressure pads set off alarms if the boys went the wrong way. A favourite was getting from mainland to mainland via islands using planks of different lengths. All these needed teamwork in order to solve the problems.
Mr Webb asked the boys to design a Bungee Jumping activity but rather than using people felt that using string, elastic bands and an egg made of plasticine would be better. The idea was to design it so that the egg rebounded just before touching the floor. Needless to say the boys asked if they could use real eggs.
(The problem that one of the parents set the staff caused much hilarity in the staffroom! Many thanks to that parent for being such a good sport and for the very welcome prize donated.)
Thursday
Today was the day that Preps III and IV were off on their Activities Day; Prep III went to Gilwern Outdoor Education Centre and Prep IV spent a day with Wild Connections’ Mr Duncan McCleod Rhodes, hosted by Mr and Mrs Yule of Pen-y-Lan Farm.
At Gilwern, Prep III worked in groups on activities such as crate stacking, orienteering, ‘toxic river’ and wigwam building.
Prep IV worked in their House Teams on a survival project. They used semaphore and Morse code to communicate coordinates which they then programmed into a GPS handset. Having located their kit for the day they embarked on two types of shelter building; leaf litter and manmade. Incorporated into this were knot-tying and the hanging of hammocks.
At school, Preps I and II worked in groups to solve such problems as The Human Sliding Tile Game, Massive Tangram and ‘Blind Dogs for the Guide’.
Friday
The highlight of today’s activities was the House Problem Solving Competition. Preps I and II competed in the Holey Bucket Challenge and Blind Dogs for the Guide, whilst Preps III and IV had to tackle River Crossing and Sheepdog Trials.
After counting up the points in each year group, the final scores were:
Drake 26 points, Raleigh 21 points, Grenville 18 points and Nelson 17 points.
