Bringing Maths to Life
Scientists from the Centre for Life have been working with youngsters from across the region who all share a common interest: they love maths.
Over 80 of the North East's brightest nine-year-old maths pupils were invited to join staff from the Centre's Lifelab to develop a workshop exploring the subject and test out new and exciting ways of teaching it.
Noel Jackson, Head of Education at the Centre for Life said, "We introduced a very successful Maths workshop for secondary school pupils last year and were inundated with calls for a primary version. There are key points during our education when you either switch on or switch off from a subject. By developing this new workshop in conjunction with pupils who are already 'switched on' to maths, we've been able to come up with a session that we hope will appeal to all eight and nine year-olds regardless of ability. The aim is to show that Maths is fun, it's exciting and it comes in many forms not just arithmetic."
Over the course of three days, (24 - 26 November), twenty-one local primary schools will each bring a team of four of their top maths pupils who will take part in maths activities and discuss what it is that they like about the subject while having the opportunity to mix with other like-minded pupils.
Noel Jackson added, "Being good at Maths is often not considered cool at school but these sessions will be a chance for those involved to see that they're not alone - maths is enjoyed by lots of children and being good at it is something to be celebrated and nurtured. After all, if you are good at maths, then you'll have good problem solving skills - a tool you can use to good effect in lots of real life situations."
Following the sessions the pupils' suggestions will be used to develop an indoor maths trail as part of the KS2 Mathstastic Event which will be available to Key Stage 2 pupils half term top Easter 2009 As well as the Maths Trail, Mathstastic will include a Maths Circus and a Maths Show with each activity designed to cover a broad range of maths topics and to appeal to different learning styles while developing problem solving skills.
The Maths Trail will look at the world through a mathematician's eyes and cover number theory, symmetry and geometry. The Maths Show will look at probability and involve lots of audience participation and to finish, a Maths Circus will require pupils to work individually and in groups to solve puzzles and games.
Mr Jackson added, "It's particularly important that we encourage those who enjoy subjects such as Maths and Science to fully embrace these subjects - just last week research revealed that young Britons are among the least likely in Europe to consider studying science subjects. However, by actively involving young people in developing learning programmes such as Mathstastic we can start to reverse this trend."
The Young People and Science study for the European Commission surveyed nearly 25,000 15- to 25-year-olds across the 27 countries of Europe.
When asked how they felt about studying science-based subjects, 86% of young Britons said they would probably or definitely not consider natural sciences, while 76% would consider neither engineering nor mathematics.