Futurology exercise “What If” 

1. Pose a “what if” maths question:

2. In your rows, brainstorm what maths would look like in this new world.

   • “What if zero didn’t exist?”

   • “What if every number had to be even?”

3. Sketch or jot down 2–3 consequences or changes to everyday maths problems.

4. Report back to the class.

Supermarket Food Rescue Mission

The Problem

Each year Australians waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food across the food supply chain. 70% of this is perfectly edible. This equates to about 312kg per person.

Australian supermarkets throw away 3 million tonnes of food every year! That's like throwing away 600 elephants worth of food EVERY DAY!

Your mission

Help Australian supermarkets save food and money using your math superpowers! Use math and the five creative habits to understand this problem and create solutions.

Mystery #1: The Two-Supermarket Puzzle

Coles and Woolworths together waste 280,000,000 tonnes of food per year. 

The clues:

Let C = Coles waste, W = Woolworths waste

C + W = 280,000,000

Coles wastes 20,000,000 tonnes more than Woolworths

Example of how to solve: 

If C = W + 20,000, then: (W + 20,000) + W = 280,000 2W + 20,000 = 280,000 2W = 260,000 W = 130,000 tonnes So C = 150,000 tonnes

Now solve this similar puzzle:

Aldi and IGA together waste 80,000 tonnes

Aldi wastes twice as much as IGA (A = 2 × I)

Find A and I

Answer: A = _______________ tonnes, I = _______________ tonnes 

Mystery #2: Ugly Fruit Files

30% of supermarket waste is "ugly" fruit and vegetables that look perfectly fine but get thrown away!

Example of how to solve:

If Coles wastes 150,000 tonnes total: Ugly food waste = 30% of 150,000 = 0.3 × 150,000 = 45,000 tonnes

Calculate ugly food waste for your answers from Mystery #1:

Aldi ugly waste: __________ tonnes

IGA ugly waste: __________ tonnes

Creative Solutions Lab

Design and draw/diagram your dream solution to supermarket food waste.

Choose ONE:

• An “Ugly Fruit Cafe”  that only sells ugly food at discount prices

• A “magic donation van” that collects almost-expired food and gives it to families

• A “future food app” that alerts customers about discount food that expires soon

Create and draw a name/menu/logo/design for your idea. 

Reflection & Sharing 

Added sand from today’s creative habits 5 min

We have to pivot from the idea of using food as our creative medium after finding out we can’t use the Food Tec room. Will focus on producing some media assets to use in a food collection drive that will be donated to a charity in week 8. Session 6 will be 2x photography stations. 

Others while not photographing: Tell them about the food drive and they start with poster designs. Research what can be accepted by charity. 

They embraced the design task with lots of creative limitations. Balance of accountability, more opportunity to question the students, good having them in rows and groups of 2-3 instead of larger. 

We need to pivot since we cannot use food as the medium as not allowed to use the Food Tec room. Will introduce digital media activities (still on food) in the next 3 sessions. We are aiming to produce a moving image installation that will be included in the exhibition at FORM Gallery in October, so these sessions will focus on producing media assets (images and video), while focussing on algebraic representation, and we will run a food drive for donation to a food charity. Term 3 will continue the digital storytelling and culmintae in the creative film being finished.

Week 6 students bring an ugly fruit to photograph, so we set up two stations for photography. 

Use the film for food drive for food donations (must be x, y, z). And gift to OzHarvest or local Foodbank. Update OzHarvest are keen and can attend Session 8.

Fruits/veggies - kids to bring one each. 

Andrea to bring: camera, mobile camera, 2x tripods, 2x lights

• Homegroup - Jasmine to check if possible to promote food drive term 2 

• Assembly - Jasmine to check for chance to promote food drive

• Screens around school possible to use for the food drive in term 2, alternatively can we put a poster up - Jasmine

• School facebook