Billiards

This was an investigation which was given to all of our Year 8 pupils as a two week extended homework task. The task is to investigate patterns (finishing pocket, number of bounces etc.) found on billiard tables of various sizes, where the table has four pockets and the ball always rebounds at 90°.

The investigation was introduced in a Maths lesson and further details were available on our school VLE. The level descriptors, in this case, were used as a marking aid for teachers, rather than for pupils to assess their own work. Pupils were given a level and then feedback on strengths/areas for improvement in the form of ‘2 stars and a wish’.

This would work equally well as a classwork task over several lessons. Pupils could then use the level ladders to assess their own work and to identify ways to extend their own work.

Resources: Task sheet (attached). Level ladder. Centimetre squared paper, rulers. ICT access if pupils are to use the online resource which plots the path of the ball on tables of various sizes – although pupils can easily draw out the paths themselves on centimetre squared paper.

Reflections: There is an interactive version of this task on the Subtangent website (link on pupil sheet). This could be given to pupils, or withheld to make the task easier/more difficult as desired.

A writing frame was produced for the very weakest pupils to encourage them to investigate logically, to record their results carefully and to explain any patterns that they found (attached).

Responses: I have included photos of a selection of student work ranging from level 3 to level 8.