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What is an investigation task?
An investigation task for maths has 2 components, the take-home and the validation. The take-home part of the assignment assesses content that is now no longer in the syllabus, and has a series of questions on this topic. The topic examined will be scaffolded in the take-home, and there is a fair bit of elbow grease students will have to put in to do well, as they are allowed to take it home. The validation task tests students on the topic after the take-home has been handed in. The questions in the validation will be intuitive to students who have a clear understanding of the concepts in the take-home and they will be able to do it quicker.
From the teachers point of view, it is in their best interest to make both parts a lot harder than their average assignments. Since the assignment is take-home, students can copy each other and all get really high marks. Harsh marking by teachers allows them to separate students, which enables a curve distribution that is good for moderating the cohort. In order to test who knows the content and who doesn’t, the validation is more often than not very tough on timing.
How can I ace the investigation task?
Authentic understanding
You can ace the investigation task if you commit to authentically understanding the content. For my investigation, instead of huddling together with friends and working together straight away, I did my own research and independent studying first. This reduced the amount of groupthink I could have been subjected to, and encouraged me to find errors in my interpretations. I scoured Eddie Woo’s youtube channel (great for learning about content no longer taught in NSW syllabus, as Eddie has been documenting his teaching for quite a while) and browsed Khan’s Academy to deepen my understanding. This allowed me to not just know what the right answer is, but to be able to explain why it is so.
Friends!
The next crucial step is checking with your friends. When you have all given it a fair go, come together and compare your answers. The discussions that come out will point out flaws in your thinking, which challenges everyone’s understanding. This is a good thing, as you can refine your knowledge in a safe space. Often, your friends can also proofread your formulas inside Excel, and tell you if a silly mistake has been made.
Practice questions
Some students will use the excuse of not practising past questions due to it being unavailable in their textbooks. However, the hard-working ones will use the internet to find questions from the old syllabus to refine their understanding. I found that students who came out on top for my investigation assignments all practised past questions of the old syllabus. This gave them an edge to the students who did not think of exposing themselves to exam conditions, and allowed them to come out on top.
Overall, investigation tasks can be seemingly easy to others, whilst difficult to other people. It is important to recognize the specific strategies that are used to excel at investigation tasks, and capitalise on them. With an authentic understanding of content, a good support network and practice questions, you will be in a good spot for the assessment!
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