secondary maths

Any two will do: developing students’ modelling and problem solving skills

Here is an activity which aims to help develop students’ modelling and problem solving skills. It requires knowledge of Pythagoras’ theorem, solving simultaneous equations and all things quadratical. Solutions to activities are included in order to highlight possible class discussion points. The activity is also available to download… Read More

Packing for the holidays

The ‘travelling to relatives’ season is nearly upon us. With this comes the need to pack suitcases and make sure you can fit everything in without leaving any important Christmas items behind. Packing is a very logical mathematical exercise and when packing anything from suitcases, the boot of your car,… Read More

Coding’s Back in Town – Let’s Use it to Inspire Maths

  For me utilising coding in mathematics lessons started in my first school job. I was asked, “as a maths person can you code?” “Yes” was my response and off I went. I began by teaching students how to write retro-games such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man as… Read More

The Magical Number Seven

  Newcastle University hosted the ‘Numbers Festival’ from 27th June to 5th July 2015 in a variety of venues in and around Newcastle. The main aim for the festival was to promote… Read More

The Neighbour Problem

  Take a deck of cards and ask someone to shuffle it thoroughly. With the deck face down, ask them to name any two cards they think might be next to each other, not worrying about which suit, just the name/number. Before you take a look, ask them… Read More

What is your favourite number and why?

  As part of the celebrations for its 50th Anniversary, the IMA, in collaboration with the University of Manchester, ran the first ever UK Festival of Mathematics in June 2014. This event was a great success and was well attended by school groups, mathematicians in academia and industry,… Read More

Collins GCSE Maths Festival – The implications of the new curriculum – how to teach Higher Tier

The opening comments in my blog of Monday about delivering the Foundation Tier, were from Mr Gove's announcement concerning the outcome of the consultation over the revision of the Mathematics GCSE syllabus. Although the text itself may not be familiar I am sure that the ideas expressed certainly are not: broader, deeper content; more contact time. Read More

Did you know? Notes from the history of Maths

Credit where credit is due Abstract: This article outlines the work of Paolo Ruffini who first gave a proof of the impossibility of an algebraic solution to quintic equations. This year, 2015, will be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Paolo Ruffini (1765-1822). You can… Read More

Did you know? Notes from the history of Maths

Credit where credit is due Abstract: This article outlines the work of Paolo Ruffini who first gave a proof of the impossibility of an algebraic solution to quintic equations. This year, 2015, will be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Paolo Ruffini (1765-1822). You can… Read More

Did you know? Notes from the history of Maths

Credit where credit is due Abstract: This article outlines the work of Paolo Ruffini who first gave a proof of the impossibility of an algebraic solution to quintic equations. This year, 2015, will be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Paolo Ruffini (1765-1822). You can… Read More