FAQ

Some schools use money from their budget. Many schools find though, that parents are more than willing to pay for quality educational experiences such as "Out of the Box" for themselves. We have also heard of schools funding part of the cost of a day and asking parents to pay the gap.

Central Venues: The price for a four hour workshop (including breaks) in a Central Venue is $40 (plus GST) per head.

In-School Workshops: When you hire us for a day in your school, the standard price for a whole day of workshops is $2150 (plus GST). The standard price for a part-day workshop is $1900 (plus GST). There is a surcharge if you have more than 60 students attending a session.

Phone or email Inquisitive Minds to register interest. Discuss the structure of your day with Inquisitive MInds. Pay a $400 deposit to Inquisitive Minds to secure your booking. Book your school hall. Hand out and collect permission slips and money from students. (We will email you a permission note.) Complete a risk assessment. (We will email you a risk assessment.) Organise enough helpers so that there is at least one assistant for each ten students. Pay the outstanding balance at least two weeks prior to the event. Photocopy the handouts which will be emailed to you. Set up the school hall with a data projector and screen, tables and chairs prior to the day. (Hall set up plan will be emailed to you and if the projector is an issue, just let us know.) Organise access to your hall, so that Inquisitive Minds are able to start setting up an hour before the start of you first Workshop. Assist with supervision and marking throughout the day.

We recommend that there is at least one assistant for every ten students who attend an OOTB Workshop. This ensures that students have their answers marked quickly and gives time for individualised instruction. Assistants may include teachers, teacher’s aides, parents or older students. If you are able to provide more assistants than required, this will enable the day to run even more effectively. We have found that having more assistants allows teachers to take more time to help students who are struggling and it also allows them to take time to observe what areas of work students are finding easier and what they are finding more challenging.

We are able to cater for up to 90 students at one time.

All of our Workshops target strategic problem solving, but each has a different different content and focus. The focus of our Stage 2 OOTB Workshops is to help students with the literacy of problem solving. We offer two different Stage 2 Workshops. In even years, our Stage 2 Workshop focusses on the literacy of problem solving and on logical reasoning. In odd years, our Stage 2 Workshop concentrates on the literacy of problem solving, drawing diagrams and making models. The focus of our Stage 3 OOTB Workshops is to extend students' problem solving toolkit. We offer two different Workshops to Stage 3 students. In even years, our Stage 3 Workshop focusses on the literacy of problem solving, looking for patterns, working backwards and logical reasoning. In odd years, our Stage 3 Workshop concentrates on the literacy of problem solving, looking for patterns, drawing diagrams and making models. Our Talented Stage 3 Workshops focus on the same strategies as our standard Stage 3 Workshops, only they use different questions and delve a lot deeper.

Yes. Teachers are always commenting to us about the way that our workshops cater for students working at a range of abilities. The activities start with easy questions and work up to very challenging ones. The easy questions are designed to be challenging, yet achievable, for students who struggle with maths. Very capable students will move through these questions very quickly and then spend the bulk of their time on the more challenging questions.

In a word – BOTH! OOTB is a workshop designed to help students to solve problems more strategically. It explicitly outlines the steps involved in the problem solving process. It shows students the value of using ‘tricks’ when solving problems and gives them the opportunity of using some of these in a hands-on problem solving relay. Teachers attend OOTB with their students. As they watch the workshop unfold, they will have the excitement of seeing their students completely engaged in a cooperative learning maths experience. They will see their students “Working Mathematically” and observe unique and innovative ways of presenting maths in a REAL LIFE context!

Some schools use money from their maths, numeracy or G&T budget. Many schools find though, that parents are more than willing to pay for quality educational experiences such as PPPP for themselves. We have also heard of schools funding part of the cost of a day and asking parents to pay the gap.

Central Venues: The price for a five hour workshop (including breaks) in a Central Venue is $40 (plus GST) per head.

In-School Workshops: When you hire us for a day in your school, the standard price for a whole day of workshops is $2150 (plus GST). The standard price for a part day (until lunch time) is $1900 (plus GST). There is a surcharge if you have more than 60 students in each workshop.

Central Venues: 9:15 Students start to arrive - puzzles available while waiting for official start. 9:30 Interactive Lesson on Problem Solving Strategies (10 minute break at some stage of morning for recess) 12:00 Lunch 12:30 Hands-on Problem Solving Competition 2:30 End of day

In-School Workshops: Below is a list of possible options for a day in your school. Option 1 Catering for one group of students for the entire day Students experience: 1 x 100 - 120 minute Interactive Lesson on Problem Solving Strategies 1 x 100 - 120 minute Hands-on Problem Solving Competition 1 x 60 - 100 minute Engineering/ Building Session Option 2 Catering for two separate groups of students. Each group of students experience: 1 x 75 minute Interactive Lesson on Problem Solving Strategies 1 x 75 minute Hands-on Problem Solving Competition Option 3 Catering for three separate groups of students. Each group of students experience: 1 x 100 minute Hands-on Problem Solving Competition with teaching scattered throughout. Option 4 Catering for four separate groups of students. Each group of students experience: 1 x 75 minute Hands-on Problem Solving Competition with teaching scattered throughout. Option 5 Catering for five separate groups of students. Each group of students experience: 1 x 60 minute Hands-on Problem Solving Competition Variations We can visit your school for a part day booking, and finish at lunch time. The list shown above is by no means exhaustive. Let us know your needs, and we can tailor a day to you!

The benefits of involving older students as assistants in your PPPP Workshop are enormous! The students enjoy the interaction and it builds stronger relationships between year groups. It frees teachers and Inquisitive Minds team to give more individualised attention to the students participating in the workshop. The experience develops mathematical confidence in the older students and gives them a leadership opportunity. Being part of the Workshop also gives older students the chance to see some new strategies and thus improve their own problem solving skills!

Most schools run Workshops with 60 or less students. However, we can cater for up to 100 students at one time. There are surcharges involved if there are more than 60 students in a Workshop. We also ask schools with large groups to provide extra teachers or older students to help with marking.

Central Venues: In days at a central venue, a teacher will need to arrive with students from their school. The teacher will be responsible for active supervision of their students throughout the workshop and during the lunch break. Teachers will also be required to assist students and mark their answers.  

In-School Workshops: Schools must provide al least one teacher for each class participating in a workshop. The use of few older students to help with marking is recommended. If there are more than 60 students involved in a workshop, the school must provide additional markers and discuss their plans for markers with Inquisitive Minds.

Central Venues: Phone or email Inquisitive Minds to register interest. We will email you a Registration Form, Risk Assessment and Permission Note. Fill in the Registration Form and email the completed form to Inquisitive Minds. This is a commitment to bring students to the Workshop. We will email an invoice to you. Hand out and collect Permission Notes and money from students. Pay the outstanding balance at least 2 weeks prior to the event. Let us know how many teachers will be attending and if any of these teachers have any food allergies or intolerances - as we provide lunch for attending teachers. Email an Excel spread-sheet with student names at least 2 weeks prior to the event -enabling us to print personalised Participation Certificates.  

In-School Workshops: Phone or email Inquisitive Minds to register interest. We will email you a Registration Form, Risk Assessment, Media Release and Permission Note. Pay a $400 deposit to secure your booking. Fill in the Registration Form (which includes details on the size of each Workshop, the ability level of students and how the Workshops will fit in with bell times). Book the school hall or an equivalent space. Hand out and collect Permission Notes and money from students. Pay the outstanding balance at least two weeks prior to the event. We will email you some handouts and a plan for how to set up the hall. Photocopy the handouts. Set up the school hall with tables, chairs, a projector and screen. Organise access to the hall for us - we normally arrive an hour before the first Workshop to set up our equipment.

Central Venues: As stated above, the central days typically cater for more capable students in Years 8 to 10.  

In-School Workshops: In your school, we can tailor each session to meet the specific educational needs of students of students from Year 7 to Year 10. We have developed an assortment of lessons on problem solving strategies. When you book a day with us, just let us know the ability level of your classes. We can then pick the lesson that is most appropriate for your students. There are 54 original hands-on problems, which range from 1 to 10 point questions. Students do not have to attempt questions in order. This ensures that students of all abilities have access to stimulating challenges.

In 2013, PPPP was designed with Year 8 in mind. Since then, we have adapted PPPP so that it can be run for Year 7 - 10. Our in-school Workshops work best for Year 7 - 9. Our Talented Workshops are best for Year 8 - 10. Our Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 Talented Workshops have completely different lessons.

Central Venues: A day in a central venue is an ideal way to offer PPPP to a smaller group of talented mathematicians from your school. The day provides students with a stimulating and challenging experience. It also gives them an opportunity to mix with and learn alongside students of similar mathematical ability. Students will participate in 240 minutes of problem solving. First, they work on puzzles while waiting for other students to arrive. Then, we officially start the day with a ‘Complession’ (Competition/ Lesson). In this Completion, students attempt a selection of hands-on logical reasoning questions, learn a range of problem solving strategies and have the opportunity of practising these strategies. After an early lunch, we place students in mixed school pairs to participate in our hands-on problem solving competition. During this competition, they work through our generous selection of problems which range from quite easy to extremely difficult.

In-School Workshops: A day in your school is an economical way to expose larger groups of students to PPPP. You book us for the day, then you decide how you wish the day to be used. Sessions generally cater for around 60, but can be run for smaller or larger groups of students. The sessions tend to last for as little as 60 minutes, or as long as an entire school day. The level of difficulty and content of sessions will be adjusted to cater to the educational needs of the students in each session. All of the activities that are available in a central venue are on offer in your school. The advantage here is choice! Let us know what your needs are and we can tailor a day to you!