Maths Explorer Years 3 & 4

Maths Explorer is suitable for mainstream students in Years 3 and 4 and mixed ability classes. Unlike the Maths Games program and the Maths Olympiad competition, it encourages students to work in pairs or small groups and overall results are not compared to other schools. It is primarily designed to build students’ confidence and lay the foundations of effective problem solving to prepare students for participation in the Maths Games and/or Maths Olympiad in later years.

No. The Maths Explorer is an introduction to problem solving and is suitable for all students in Years 3 and 4.

Students work in pairs or small groups of three when completing the Maths Explorer papers. This collaborative approach is particularly beneficial in identifying various possible ways to solve a problem, and in reducing potential anxiety in individual students. The teacher in charge marks the paper and records the score against each student’s name when submitting results.

APSMO provides a number of resources to help teachers prepare students.  These include Resource Kits prior to each Maths Explorer paper that contain sample questions focussing on individual problem solving strategies and step-by-step solutions to assist teachers when preparing their students. We also provide a Practice Kit and Practice Paper in Term 1, teacher guides, videos and digital games to use in class as well as access to Past Papers.

We recommend that at least 30 minutes to an hour per week is spent practising problem solving. With the Maths Explorer we also encourage teachers to adapt problem solving strategies for use around the school in outdoor activities or with hands-on, practical activities.

All registered students will receive a Certificate of Achievement for presentation at the end of the year.

Six special awards (“Maths Star” cloth patches) are also provided to each team for presentation to deserving students at the teacher’s discretion.

If a student transfers to another school that is participating in the Maths Explorer, his/her results can be transferred to the new school’s team.

Written notification containing details of the student and both schools’ teams must be provided to APSMO in order for the transfer to take place.

The standard cost to register one team of up to 30 students in the Maths Explorer is $180 per team.
An Early Bird discount rate of $160 per team is available for registrations received before the end of the previous year.  Discounts are available for multiple Maths Explorer team registrations.