Irish edtech start-up to break through to UK market with maths tutoring

• Breakthrough Maths was founded in Cork in 2020. It is now going international and aiming to grow its revenue to €5m by 2025. Irish online maths school Breakthrough Maths is to expand into the UK by the end of this year. The edtech company was founded in the middle of the pandemic and now teaches around 300 students per week.
• “The digital education market is rapidly increasing and is expected to grow by more than €2bn in Europe alone by 2025,” said founder TJ Hegarty. “We’re seeing huge demand in Ireland, our student numbers have tripled in the past year alone and show no signs of slowing.”
• Breakthrough Maths was originally set up in September 2020 in a Cork community hall. At the time, it had two teachers and 24 students, before moving online and expanding. It caters to students from fifth class in primary school right through to Leaving Certificate level in secondary school. It offers online maths grinds, taught in small groups to keep students engaged.
• “We have small groups of students who are matched by ability. Our online classes are also more sustainable, removing the need to travel to grinds. The average student saved 45 hours in travelling time last year alone.”

That’s Maths: The get-togethers that are essential to solve unsolved problems

• In just three weeks the largest global mathematical get-together will be under way. The opening ceremony of the 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) opens on Wednesday, July 6th. The idea of an international congress was first developed by Felix Klein and Georg Cantor, two giants of 19th-century mathematics. The first such meeting was in 1897 and, at the second in 1900, leading German mathematician David Hilbert announced a famous list of 23 key unsolved problems. These had a major influence on mathematical research through the 20th century and several remain unsolved today.
• The 2022 ICM was scheduled to be held in St Petersburg but, on February 26th, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IMU announced the congress would be a fully virtual event, hosted outside Russia. The union acknowledged the dedication of Russian colleagues in preparing for the meeting but concluded an in-person event in Russia was impossible.
• Consistently regarded as the top award in mathematics, the Fields Medals are awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians, who must be under 40 years of age, at the international Congress. It is often described as the Nobel Prize of mathematics.

DCBEAGLE Challenges

As the academic year is slowly drawing to a close in the northern hemisphere this newsletter points you in direction of many resources and activities to enhance your final lessons and maths projects.

STEM activities
This PDF booklet has 50+ activities. This collection is for teachers, teaching assistants, STEM Club leaders and families. It consists of easy to run, short and practical STEM activities which are ideal for any setting; classroom, outside and home. Activities can be adapted to suit the setting or time available and require few resources and materials. Each has a suggested list of substitute materials, making them easy to clean up. Activities do not require extensive STEM subject knowledge, enabling anyone to use them irrespective of experience level. Click here.
Puzzles of the month (Henry Dudeney 1857 - 1930)

UNLUCKY BREAKDOWNS 
On an occasion of great festivities, a considerable number of townspeople banded together for a day's outing and pleasure. They pressed into service nearly every wagon in the place, and each wagon was to carry the same number of persons. Half-way ten of these wagons broke down, so it was necessary for every remaining wagon to carry one more person. Unfortunately, when they started for home, it was found that fifteen more wagons were in such bad condition that they could not be used; so there were three more persons in every wagon than when they started out in the morning.
How many persons were there in the party?
Maths Tricks
Many pupils enjoy discovering maths tricks and some like to look at them in depth to see why they “work”. A great way to challenge your gifted young mathematicians. This video shows 20 tricks and designed to pause when investigating a process. Click here for the video.
Let us draw
Zentangles

What are Zentangles?
Zentangle is an American method for drawing, which not only promotes concentration and creativity but at the same time increases personal well-being. Zentangle was invented by a monk named Rick Roberts and an artist named Maria Thomas. With Zentangle they created a combination of meditation and art.
A Zentangle is a miniature abstract work of art created by a collection of patterns. It is typically done on a 3 ½” x 3 ½” paper “tile” using a pencil and a black pen. The small size allows for a work of art that can be completed in a relatively short period of time.
This YouTube video is comprehensive with ideas and instruction. This is complemented with another website.
Puzzle of the month solution

UNLUCKY BREAKDOWNS
There must have been 900 persons in all. One hundred wagons started off with 9 persons in each wagon. After 10 wagons had broken down, there would be 10 persons in every wagon-"one more." As 15 more wagons had to be withdrawn on the home journey, each of the remaining 75 wagons would carry 12 persons - "three more than when they started out in the morning."
 
Final words
Project for your pupils: using their phones take images related to maths such as shape, numbers, counting, games, etc