IB Diploma Programme course outlines: …

1 IB Diploma Programme course outlines: mathematical studies course Description This course caters for students with varied backgrounds and abilities. More specifically, it is designed to build confidence and encourage an appreciation of mathematics in students who do not anticipate a need for mathematics in their future studies . Students taking this course need to be already equipped with fundamental skills and a rudimentary knowledge of basic processes. The course concentrates on mathematics that can be applied to contexts related as far as possible to other subjects being studied, to common real-world occurrences and to topics that relate to home, work and leisure situations.

2 The course includes project work, a feature unique within this group of courses: students must produce a project, a piece of written work based on personal research, guided and supervised by the teacher. The project provides an opportunity for students to carry out a mathematical investigation in the context of another course being studied, a hobby or interest of their choice using skills learned before and during the course . This process allows students to ask their own questions about mathematics and to take responsibility for a part of their own course of studies in mathematics.

3 The students most likely to select this course are those whose main interests lie outside the field of mathematics, and for many students this course will be their final experience of being taught formal mathematics. The students will use text books which emphasize the international nature of mathematics. The history of mathematics is of course multi national, rich and diverse and the origins of some of these discoveries will be discussed. When appropriate items from the current news and/or discoveries in other countries will also be used to see the necessity of maths around the world.

4 Also teaching in an international school the students will naturally have a different notation to others which will be commented on and accepted. The specific purposes of the project are to develop students' personal insight into the nature of mathematics and to develop their ability to ask their own questions about mathematics, encourage students to initiate and sustain a piece of work in mathematics, enable students to acquire confidence in developing strategies for dealing with new situations and problems, provide opportunities for students to develop individual skills and techniques and to allow, students with varying abilities, interests and experiences to achieve a sense of personal.

5 Satisfaction in studying mathematics, enable students to experience mathematics as an integrated organic discipline rather than, fragmented and compartmentalized skills and knowledge, enable students to see connections and applications of mathematics to other areas of interest, provide opportunities for students to show, with confidence, what they know and what they can do. The regular topics tests, end of year test and mock exam are set to identify the misunderstandings of the students and get them use to a timed exam, which they will be facing at the end of the 2 years which carries a high percentage of their overall mark.

6 Topics The course content is based on the IB mathematical studies guide. All of the IB syllabus topics have been covered in my two year plan detailed below. The course starts off by covering topics they should have already met in previous years, so they won t feel daunted by the upcoming work. At the end of every couple of topics the students will face past exam questions on the topics they have studied, giving them an insight as to what awaits them at the end of their two IB DP years. Algebra is taught to them relatively early in the course even though it is not specifically mentioned in the syllabus but it is necessary in all areas of mathematics.

7 The statistical work is introduced at an early stage because most of the work they will have met before, it is also provides them with a good grounding in some of the skills they will require in order to do their main project. With each mini project they will be taught the necessary skills and shown how to use certain software to enhance their own projects. When they come do to their own project they will hopefully have sufficient knowledge in order to carry out their projects. Statistical work is generally the area of Mathematics which lends itself to the student who will be undertaking mathematical studies .

8 It is also very difficult for students to get below a certain mark or above a certain mark for their project. In their second year they will be under enormous pressure from all subjects to hand in projects and demand on their time will be considerable. In doing the project in their first year they won t have to stress over possible time management issues with other subjects if we were to wait until their second year. Connections to TOK Proof: Axioms, rules of inference; mathematical deduction (and induction); is there more to maths than manipulation of symbols according to given rules; if not, then why is maths interesting?

9 What is intelligence? Can a machine think? Alan Turing s test. Godel Logic: Limitations of logic; Russell s set paradox and ancient Greek paradoxes; mention of Godel. Truth: universal truths; is maths discovered or invented; could God make 2+2=5? Nature of infinity: irrational numbers and Euclid s proof; one-one mappings and counting; Cantor s diagonal arguments. Beauty and creativity: What makes a proof beautiful? Is the result or the proof more interesting? Ways of proving Pythagoras Theorem. Computers: Can we use computers to see things which were not otherwise possible eg fractals?

10 Influences of computers and calculating devices on the development of maths. History: The story of mathematics; important turning points and significant mathematicians. Map of mathematics: Who is doing maths today? Where are the main centres? What are the main research areas? Who funds mathematics? Cryptography. course outline Maths studies SL weekly topic guide Start of year 1 of 33 weeks Week Topics Notes 1 Number sets and properties : Sets of natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, exponential notation, factors, multiples Throughout 2 years students will be continually be using their GDC so no particular lesson has been allocated to as it will be in progress throughout the 2 years.