NRICH Vectors

This list supports teaching of vectors in secondary mathematics. It provides investigations, problems and games from NRICH as well as classroom activities on the STEM Learning website that compliment them.

 

 

 

Here are some favourite activities selected by the NRICH team.

  • Vector Journeys  This activity investigates giving vectors to describe a journey around a square and also moving diagonally across a square. Relationships between the vectors form part of the challenge.
  • Vector Walk Two vectors are given and an investigation is made of possible coordinates for the end destinations of the walk.

These are just a few of the activities on Vectors  that you can find on the NRICH curriculum pages.

STEM Logo

 

 

The activities below, taken from the STEM Learning website, complement the NRICH activities above.

Focus Year 10/11 Shape and Space Extension

Quality AssuredCategory:MathematicsPublisher:Stanley Thornes

Vectors begins on pdf page 20. The section deals with vector notation, position and displacement vectors, the triangle law, unit vectors and proving geometric results using vectors.

Vectors

Quality AssuredCategory:MathematicsPublisher:The Virtual Textbook

This resource is an Excel spreadsheet which starts with sheets dealing with column vectors and the magnitude and direction of vectors. These column vectors are illustrated in diagrams.

Later sheets deal with vector addition, the centroid of a triangle and proofs using vectors.

Transformations

Quality AssuredCategory:MathematicsPublisher:Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching

This is an MEP resource.  Transformations has a section (pdf page 7-11) on how a column vector can be used to specify a translation. There is a brief introduction followed by two worked examples and a set of questions. 

Vectors Introduction

Quality AssuredCategory:MathematicsPublisher:University of Leicester

This presentation can be used as an introduction to vectors. The first seven slides deal with the difference between vector and scalar quantities. The next set of slides explain different representations of vectors, multiplication by a scalar and the magnitude of vectors in two and three dimensions.

The final slides can be used as extension material. They introduce the scalar product using the cosine rule and the notation for a unit vector. This includes finding the angle between two vectors.