Surrounded

<< An ATM publication

Surrounded is a new piece of software from the ATM. Most maths teachers are familiar with the pond or garden surround problem:

A garden centre sells ponds that it makes to a special design. A path made of paving slabs 1ft by 1ft surrounds each pond. For example, a path containing 20 slabs will surround a pond that is 4ft by 4ft. Investigate.

Surround is program, utilising Excel, that takes the drudgery out of such problems and allows students to get to the maths without all the tedious diagram drawing and encourages students to think algebraically.

The program enables students to design a ‘pond’ (shown below in black) and then add surrounds. Clicking on the yellow box underneath reveals the number of slabs required.

More and more surrounds can be added by clicking the ‘add surrounds’ button and by clicking the box gives the number in each surround.

This then enables the students to spot patterns, maker predictions, make generalisations.

There are three different rules that can be used allowing for differentiation.

Rule 1 adds a border all around the original shape.

Rule 2 adds a border square only if it touches a previously coloured square.

Rule 3 surrounds the original shape by colouring a square only if it touches exactly one coloured square along a side.

Different size and shape ‘ponds’ can easily be made - including unconnected ones.

There are also suggestions which provide helpful hints and clues eg: Why do the numbers often go up in 8s?

One extension on the program is the puzzles screen. Here a series of numbers are given and from this information the shape of the pool has to be determined.

I ran this program without problem on Excel 2000 (on Win 2000), Excel 2003 (on Windows XP) and Office for Mac (on Mac OSX 10.4), unfortunately it didn’t run on OpenOffice.

Surround is a simple and effective program and one that can be accessed by primary, secondary and post-16 students; it provides excellent value - economically and educationally. It allows for differentiation and can provide a challenge for the most able. I highly recommend it.

Steve Bishop • Maths Lecturer, City of Bristol College

<< An ATM publication

Surrounded
ISBN 978 1 898611 52 3
CD and Manual £25.00
System requirements: PC with Excel 2000 or later
ATM
Unit 7 Prime Industrial Park
7 Shaftesbury Street
Derby
DE23 8YB

<< Buy Surrounded here

© 2008 Annery Kiln Web Design & Association of Teachers of Mathematics
Who made this website so well? The Team

The Association of Teachers of Mathematics
for mathematics educators
primary, secondary and higher

© All the material contained on the website, including the content printed above, is subject to copyright.
It is permissible, unless otherwise stated, to make use of this material in genuine educational contexts
and to reproduce material sufficient to meet the needs of such use.
Any other use is strictly subject to express permission being obtained from copyright@atm.org.uk

This copyright notice must remain attached to this material and MUST appear on all copies made.