Matte på en Matta Maths on a Mat Per Berggren Trädgårdsstadsskolan, Tullinge, Sweden When Per Berggren and Maria Lindroth attended the 2006 MAV December Conference in Australia, they went to a session by Matt Skoss based around a large Maths Mat. They loved the concept and resolved to find opportunity to make their own mat and use it with Swedish teachers. A district Inspiration Day and glorious Spring weather were just perfect for the inaugural workshop.

On a big mat divided into 10x10 you can explore lots of mathematics. These pictures are from an Inspiration Day in Tullinge, south of Stockholm. On the Inspiration Day all teachers come together to share their experience and give each other good examples.

Making a calendar; that wasn't as easy as it sounded. When it was done we used the numbers to explore the relationships in the calendar. That led into algebraic proof - for students in Year 3-9!! It wasn't easy to solve the problems. More than once there was a need for more than one brain thinking.

An introduction to the coordinate system with challenges that came into logic, spatial awareness and ended with hard problem solving tasks for students in Year 9. Another activity was to make a travel graph. Teachers had some notes on different papers telling a story about a colleague going to work. The teacher met some problems on the way so he must go back, search for things, run back to school, stop for a red light... After sorting the papers into a story, it was displayed as a graph on the mat. It was a wonderful day with the mat in focus.