Co-ordinates in engineering
A collection of resources to provide ideas for setting grid references in the context of engineering, together with materials to support the teaching of this topic.
'Tunnelworks: Key Stage Four Mathematics' explores co-ordinates by challenging students to create an approximate map of the Thames Tideway Tunnel and one branch using four-figure grid references. There is an extension task making use of Pythagoras' theorem.
There are two supporting resources. 'Co-ordinates' is a series of 24 activities from the Nuffield foundation that uses games to develop the use of co-ordinates in two and three dimensions.
Tunnelworks: Key Stage Four Mathematics
The second lesson in this resource explores co-ordinates by challenging students to create an approximate map of the Thames Tideway Tunnel and one branch using four-figure grid references. Students use co-ordinates to identify areas of sub-maps and use Pythagoras’ Theorem to calculate distances.
Co-ordinates
This resource would be helpful as an extension activity once the 'Tunnelworks: Key Stage 4' resource has been used. The resource is from the Nuffield Foundation and develops the use of co-ordinates in two and three dimensions using traditional games. It digresses into the simple use of matrices as information stores and finally, extending the work on ‘battleships’ into equations of lines and rather quickly into the solution of simultaneous equations. The co-ordinate development is entirely in the first quadrant.
Faces Co-ordinates
This resource would be a helpful reminder of working with co-ordinates, to use prior to using the 'Tunnelworks: Key Stage 4' resource. Based on the game of battleships, this activity is an effective way of practising grid references and co-ordinates. Children take it in turns to roll two dice and place a counter on the board; the faces of the dice determine the co-ordinates where their counter can go.
