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Welcome to the first update of the year! |
The end of the festive season means it’s time for a new year, full of new possibilities, and you can be sure that we’ll be with you every step of the way to bring you resources, activities, and Maths fun for all! We have so much in store for the year ahead and we’re itching to share it with you all, so stay tuned for an exciting year ahead. It’s important to remember that maths is all around you, and it can be a joy to find it wherever it is. There are ingenious people who delight in looking for patterns or quirky characteristics in numbers. This was shared with us on new Year’s eve: |
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In the meantime, keep up to date with us on our social media pages. Click the buttons below to follow our pages and the content we create for you! If you have any questions be sure sure to drop us an email at mathsweek.wd@setu.ie Thanks, |
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In this issue: Spotlight, 2023 Calendar, Rishi Sunak. What’s On: Coming Events Jan - Mar. Interesting Reading. Maths Outside the Textbook with Douglas Buchanan.
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Spotlight |
2023 Maths Ireland CalendarThere was such a big response to our free calendar offer, that we have decided to make 50 more available. If you would like one of the calendars please email mathsweek.wd@setu.ie with ‘calendar’ in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body of the email.
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Rishi Sunak Lays out Plans for English Students to Study Maths till 18.BBC The prime minister is looking at plans to ensure all school pupils in England study maths in some form until the age of 18. This has sparked widespread debate, and we would love to hear you opinions in our poll below! | |
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Let Us Know What You Think about Sunak’s Plan! Click the link to our poll below! |
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Peter’s Problem CompetitionJanuary IMTA runs a special competition for Transition Year pupils. Dedicated to the memory of the late Peter Tiernan for his many years of devoted work as a teacher and IMTA member. He was also a great supporter of Maths Week Ireland in the early years. The competition opens in January and close on the 10th of March | |
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Team Maths 2023January 27 Team Maths is a competition for Leaving Certificate Higher level Maths students. It will be held on Friday 27th January 2023, commencing at 7:30pm. The competition is based on a team of 4 students working together to solve mathematical problems based on the Leaving Certificate Higher level Maths syllabus; it is excellent preparation for Mock examinations.
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What’s On |
BT Young ScientistRDS, January 12-14, 2023 The annual BT Young Scientist exhibition kicks off this week. Good luck to all of this year’s entrants! | |
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Robert Boyle Winter SchoolRDS, February 18, 2023 The Robert Boyle Winter School is planned for February in Dublin. Details coming soon - check out the website to stay updated on the 2023 programme! | |
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Northern Ireland Science FestivalFebruary 16 - 26 The festival offers a stimulating and wide range of events focusing on the wonders of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. These events present some of the best scientists from NI and beyond to discuss their work, cutting-edge research and what the future might hold. | |
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RIA Hamilton Lecture March 1 Cryptography: Secrets and Lies, Knowledge and Trust Deferred from Maths Week (17 October), join world-renowned Avi Wigderson as he explores what protects your computer password when you log on, or your credit card number when you shop on-line, from hackers listening on the communication lines? Can two people who never met create a secret language in the presence of others, which no one but them can understand? Is it possible for a group of people to play a (card-less) game of Poker on the telephone, without anyone being able to cheat? Can you convince others that you can solve a tough math puzzle, without giving them the slightest hint of your solution? | |
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Engineers WeekMarch 4-10 Engineers use a lot of maths and Engineers Week should have a lot of events of interest taking place all across the island. | |
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International Day of Mathematics March 14 The International Day of Mathematics (IDM) is a worldwide celebration. Each year on March 14 all countries will be invited to participate through activities for both students and the general public in schools, museums, libraries and other spaces. The theme for 2023 is ‘Maths For Everyone’. If you’re celebrating you can add your event to the map by using this link . | |
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The Mathematics Education for the Future Project Call for abstracts: A Symposium on Innovative Teaching Practices Oxford University, UK, Aug 14-18, 2023 |
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The organisers welcome papers and workshops that deal with all aspects of innovation, especially those helping to make our subject more "alive", "realistic" and "accessible" to students. In line with the conference theme, they also welcome papers that show how prior work in the teaching and learning of mathematics has laid the foundation for future directions and innovations. They have an open policy to accept in the programme not only peer-refereed papers, but also workshops and contributions from teachers discussing their innovative work in the classroom. Possible topics on the theme Innovative Teaching Practices: teaching/learning online and innovative internet apps | self-assessment |group learning | group/class projects |using real life themes for integrated and interdisciplinary teaching | the jigsaw/expert method | Solidarity Assimilation Groups (SAG - Roberto Baldino Brazil) |Exceptional school systems that create and support innovation |
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Interesting Reading |
Dan Meyer: “Maths has an obvious perception problem among students”The UNESCO Courier Why is maths perceived as difficult, even humiliating by many? Dan Meyer, specialist in mathematics education, questions the way the subject is taught at school. | |
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The biggest Maths breakthroughs in 2022Quanta Magazine In 2022, mathematicians solved a centuries-old geometry question, proved the best way to minimize the surface area of clusters of up to five bubbles and proved a sweeping statement about how structure emerges in random sets and graphs. | |
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Turning Sports Statistics Into Riveting CinemaNew York Times Jon Bois shows us how graphs and data visualisation can be powerful storytelling devices. | |
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Atlas of Irish MathematicsWaterford Our 32nd bi-monthly regional Irish focused blog highlights mathematical people associated with Waterford, Waterford has long been the location of the main hub of third level education in the southeast, and here you can read about Waterford-born mathematicians and people involved in these institutions We now have covered almost counties and they can be seen at the link below. | |
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Coming Soon: Mathematicians interred in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin. |
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| DCBEAGLE CHALLENGES = BEYOND THE TEXTBOOK January 2023 Douglas Buchanan ~ dcbeagleb@gmail.com ~ www.dcbeagle.com ~ @dcbeagle1 |
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HAPPY NEW YEAR! My favourite teacher
I am chairman of the alumni of the school I taught at for 29 years. The contributions I receive from members for the monthly newsletter have the same teachers named who have influenced their lives, have contributed to their love for a particular subject.
Common comments about maths teachers ……… · I was lucky to have a teacher who would allow me and other people to just focus on doing our best. · The teacher had a lot of different ways to teach maths and was very creative in the classroom. She didn’t just stand up at the front of the room and lecture in a boring way. · I remember days when it seemed like no one in the class understood what she was trying to teach, so she would say it in a lot of different ways and even make jokes to help us remember the important ideas. · He would tell us real-life examples of how maths is used in everyday life, so we would stay motivated and focused. Sometimes when we would ask why we had to learn something that didn’t seem very important, he would explain how maths fit into life and how we would need to know the information when we were adults living in the real world. · Sometimes she would make us do things which were annoying, but not everything involving school is enjoyable, and we just have to deal with these things because this is what school has to be like at times.
Teachers of young pupils are plunged into a classroom and the perception is they are now experts in all the subjects they are teaching. Maths teaching will feel uncomfortable to some who personally struggled in the subject when at school. The result is the teaching methods will be the ones experienced by the teachers when they were at school. We are very lucky we have the internet with wonderful resources for maths teaching. NRICH and TES Resources are two excellent starting points. For the latter you have to register but all the material is FREE. YouTube clips always add excitement in lessons. |
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The Way to Tipperary (Henry E Dudeney) |  |
| The popular bard assures us that "it's a long, long way to Tipperary." Look at the accompanying chart and see if you can discover the best way from London to "the sweetest girl I know." The lines represent stages from town to town, and it is necessary to get from London to Tipperary in an even number of stages. You will find no difficulty in getting there in 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 stages, but these are odd numbers and will not do. The reason they are odd is that they all omit the sea passage, a very necessary stage. If you get to your destination in an even number of stages, it will be because you have crossed the Irish Sea. Which stage is the Irish Sea? Click here if you want an enlarged version of the chart. |
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Do you have a Maths Activity table? In the past I have mentioned this idea – an opportunity to explore and enjoy the activities without being assessed. Nature Tables are easy to set up and so is a Maths Table and very little money is required. At this time of the year one could ask the pupils / parents if they have any puzzles, including jigsaw puzzles, which can be put on the Table. Key: · Change the materials often. · Get the pupils to destroy their efforts if they recorded their results on paper · Ideas: Sudoku / jigsaw puzzle / tangrams / playing cards / 3-D puzzles / dice games / board games / spirograph / etc
What’s the time, Mr Wolf? This is always an interesting concept to get across to the pupils and I have found this video (6 -9 year olds) which is “out of the box”. I am sure the awful music and the colourful graphics will engage them to give them a better understanding of the topic. Click here. The video is from the RockNLearn website also this covers many subjects in the curriculum.
Logic puzzles To develop the pupils’ reasoning in solving problems presenting logic puzzles will not go amiss. Once they have tackled a few put the shoe on the other foot and ask the pupil to create for you and the rest of the class to solve. Woo! Jnr has a selection of examples suitable for 7 to 10 years. aHa! Puzzles have a wide range of logic conundrums to suit all ages. Great to enhance your lessons or challenging the pupils at the Maths Table.
Spatial awareness Due to the COVID epidemic the pupils lost out developing their spatial awareness skills. On my travels to school I can see progress is being made but there are still many pupils not at ease. NCETM has some good activities: Shape and space 5 – 7 year olds Teaching area and perimeter of shapes 11 – 13 year olds. NZMATHS website has five PowerPoint projects suitable for 10 – 14 year olds. Scroll down the page to them. There are teachers’ notes and nets to record results. |
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| Solution The thick line in the illustration shows a route from London to Tipperary in eighteen moves. It is absolutely necessary to include the stage marked "Irish Sea" in order to perform the journey in an even number of stages. |
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Final words 2023 has arrived! |
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