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About Venn Diagrams

I began to see the huge potential for the use of Venn Diagrams as a rich task from my constant source of inspiration – the amazing Median Maths Blog, by Don Steward. He created a lovely Straight Line Graphs Venn Diagrams task that you can access here

Here is why I love Venn Diagram activities so much

1) Students can always make a start. If they can think of a number/expression/object or whatever it might be, it has to go in one of the regions on the diagram, so they are up and running
2) The more regions student find, the more challenging the task gets, which adds a nice element of differentiation
3) They are incredibly versatile, and can be used for almost all maths topics for all ages and abilities
4) They are very quick to create and require no special resources
5) They are easy to tweak by simply changing one of the circle labels if you find they are too difficult/easy
6) Students can create their own as an extension task

Give them a go, and if you or your pupils cannot resist the urge to create your own Venn Diagram tasks, please let me know

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Double Venn Diagrams

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Instructions - Double

The diagram below shows how double Venn Diagrams work
Try to find an example of a number/expression/object to go into each of the 4 regions
If you think it is impossible to find an example for one or more of the regions, try to explain why

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Smaller than 30%

Bigger than 0.2

Think of a fraction that could belong in each of the regions

If you think a region is impossible to fill, convince me why!

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Smaller than 70%

Think of a decimal that could belong in each of the regions

If you think a region is impossible to fill, convince me why!

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Bigger than 0.15

Think of a percentage that could belong in each of the regions

If you think a region is impossible to fill, convince me why!

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Triple Venn Diagrams

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Instructions - Triple

The diagram below shows how triple Venn Diagrams work
Try to find an example of a number/expression/object to go into each of the 8 regions
If you think it is impossible to find an example for one or more of the regions, try to explain why

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Smaller than 0.8

Denominator is 20

Bigger than 70%

Think of a fraction that could belong in each of the regions

If you think a region is impossible to fill, convince me why!

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Smaller than 40%

3 digits long

Think of a decimal that could belong in each of the regions

If you think a region is impossible to fill, convince me why!

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Bigger than 0.7

Ends in a 2

Think of a percentage that could belong in each of the regions

If you think a region is impossible to fill, convince me why!

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Venn Diagrams Challenges

Describe your strategy for filling in the regions

Which was the easiest region to complete, and which was the hardest?

Which region has the most possible examples, and which has the fewest?

If you think it is impossible to find an example for a particular region, convince me why

What would you change a circle label to, to make the task easier/harder

Create your own Venn Diagram on this topic where it is possible to fill in all the regions

Create your own Venn Diagram on this topic when it is impossible to fill in just 1 of the regions. How about one where it is impossible to fill in 2, 3, 4, etc regions?

Can you create a quadruple Venn Diagram for this topic?

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Possible Lesson Format

1) Complete the double Venn Diagram

2) Complete the Triple Venn Diagram

NOTE: for both of these, find an example to fit each region, or convince me why a region is impossible

3) Create a Venn Diagram of your own with as few impossible regions as you can!

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Blank templates to print…

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Bigger t

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Bigger t