Ep 372: Colin Shnier, Alice Wheeler (January 31, 2012)

Colin doesn't necessarily believe it, but the family myth (as he puts it) is that when he was four his parents used to have him perform mathematical calculations at dinner parties.  Whether or not that is true, he does know that he has always enjoyed playing with numbers in his head.

Tonight's challenger is Alice Wheeler, another primary school teacher.  There's mention (contrasted with the mathematics games days that Colin has organised) of how she loves to get her students doing things with textiles, fabrics, and sewing.  She comments that generally the students don't get a chance to do much with that, so they find it very exciting.


Colin has a lot of trouble in the letters rounds tonight -- his first two words are invalid, for instance -- and Alice finds good words throughout to have Colin well behind.  The numbers don't give Colin enough room to gain back lost ground, and Alice has the victory well in hand before the conundrum.  She solves it quickly, winning by 61 points to 37.  (And semi-fulfilling my prediction about Colin losing to a conundrum, except that she outscored him sufficiently in the main rounds.)

I had a terrible game today; my mind just kind of shut down.  I missed several chances, and conceded crucial points that I would not have on a better day.  I went into the conundrum only ten points ahead, and was my usual slow self in solving it.  Since Alice solved it more quickly, the result is the first draw of the blog (although I have little doubt that a second conundrum would have seen me lose).

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 371: Colin Shnier, Colin Mallard (January 30, 2012)

Tonight we find out that Colin is one of several teachers across the state that organise maths games days (Colin teaches at Wesley College, incidentally).  They get about two hundred students in a room and spend the day giving them maths puzzles, games, competitions, videos, and so on.  Colin says that "it's just a chance to celebrate the exploration and the puzzling and the thinking... it's a lovely day."

Tonight's challenger is Colin Mallard, a senior data analyst for the Queensland government.  In the last year Colin has managed to shed twenty kilograms of weight, which is quite impressive.  It involved a lot of watching what he ate, and doing exercise every week.  He says that the food side was easy, but the exercise was the hard part.

Obviously both contestants being named "Colin" has some potential for confusion.  I will use their second initials to distinguish them; on the show Colin M agreed to be called "Col" to alleviate this.


Both contestants do well on the letters round, matching each other on all but one round; Colin S found a good six in a tough mix to gain the advantage there.  But the numbers prove more decisive as Colin S solves all three of them while Colin M misses two completely, despite the low targets on offer.  Colin S has won before the conundrum, and with neither solving it takes the win, 63 to 37.

I had troubles in this game, as I tried for a nine that wasn't valid in the first round; that left me eight points adrift from the start.  I managed to get back in front fairly soon, but then that same good six from Colin S levelled the scores.  I missed my chance to draw away in round seven, and the numbers offered no scope for advancement, so it was level-pegging going into the conundrum.  I was slow again, but fortunately solved it to squeak home with a win.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 370: John O'Connor, Colin Shnier (January 27, 2012)

Richard asks John what he finds so satisfying about teaching really young children.  (There's more behind this question than is apparent at this point, but we'll get to that soon.)  John responds that the big satisfaction as a primary school teacher is to see massive changes in children over the course of a single year.  His example is that if you can get a child reading well then it affects not only their English performance, but they are able to use it in maths and everything else.

Tonight's challenger is Colin Shnier, a secondary school mathematics teacher.  Richard follows on from his question to John by asking Colin what he finds appealing about teaching to older children.  Colin starts with some minor trash-talk about the first requirement being to fix what John (and his colleagues) have done; fortunately he is not serious, nor does anyone take him as such.  Actually answering the question, Colin says that the continuation of that growth that John talked about is quite beautiful; Colin adds that he really loves working with teenagers because you get such an honesty of the feedback -- you can see immediately how they are thinking and feeling.


It's another close game tonight, with the letters rounds being a little parsimonious and the numbers serving up some difficult targets.  Colin takes the lead in the first round, John gets some back and then loses that ground again in the middle rounds, and finally in the last letters round John finds a good word to hit the lead for the first time, by a single point.  But Colin retakes the lead in the ensuing numbers round, and with neither solving the conundrum that makes Colin the winner by 44 points to 35.

I did as well as possible on the letters tonight (I believe) but once again missed a number solution that I should have found.  I solved the conundrum relatively quickly, and overall it was a good game that was just short of being excellent.

As usual, details after the jump.