Max Maths, Year 4, Try it, Using negative numbers

In the "Max Maths, Year 4" activity focused on using negative numbers, students are invited to explore temperatures from various locations around the world and represent them visually. The task begins with shading thermometers to indicate the average temperatures in degrees Celsius for five different places: Anchorage in Alaska, Cape Town in South Africa, Antarctica, London in the United Kingdom, and Helsinki in Finland. The temperatures to be shown on the thermometers are -6°C for Anchorage, 22°C for Cape Town, -27°C for Antarctica, 5°C for London, and -4°C for Helsinki. Each thermometer is marked with a scale ranging from -30°C to 30°C, allowing students to accurately shade the thermometers to the corresponding temperatures.

Following the shading exercise, students are then asked to place these same temperatures on a number line. The number line is laid out with increments showing temperatures from -30°C to 30°C, including intermediary markers at -25, -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25°C. This part of the activity helps students understand the order and spacing of negative numbers in relation to positive numbers and zero. It is a practical application of negative numbers that also introduces children to the concept of temperatures below freezing, as they plot the given temperatures on the number line according to their values.