As you know this week is Maths Week and a chance to promote maths across the school and for students to have some fun along the way. Why not start by putting your school on the map by registering on the Maths Week website?
To see what is happening near your school check out www.mathsweek.ie/2015/events. The list includes events for adults and the general public, third level, post-primary and primary school students.
A few top picks :
- Bring senior cycle post-primary students to hear Dr Eugenia Cheng speak at the National Concert Hall on Friday morning. This is free to attend but you must book tickets in advance. Eugenia will give an illustrated talk on maths while linking to her experiences with music, baking and other stories from her life.
- Here’s Looking at Euclid talk by Professor Robin Wilson taking place on Tuesday evening in Marsh’s Library, Dublin. This talk is open to the general public and will explore the mathematical accomplishments of ancient Greece through Euclid’s Elements.
- Book a session of Alice in Numberland in Sandyford Dublin for your class, junior infants up to second class, and let students explore number, patterns, shapes and time in an interactive and fun learning environment.
- Learn it LEGO Education workshop with Lifetime Lab in Cork is running sessions for primary students from first to sixth class introducing them to robotics, machines and mechanisms through team work and inquiry-based investigative activities.
- Secrets, Lies and Mathematics with Dr Maths by Engineers Ireland in Dublin invite schools to bring groups from 11 to 16 years old to discover how Maths can predict the future.
In case you need some ideas here are a few things your class or school can get involved in:
- Have You Got Maths Eyes is a great way to get students of all ages to look for Maths in their local environments. It’s as simple as taking a photograph, adding a title or a tag line and entering it on the Maths Eyes website. This can be extended to the Maths Eyes GeoGebra Competition by importing the image into GeoGebra to investigate distances, angles, symmetry etc. using students own images for exploring mathematical concepts.
- Get your school to take the Mangahigh Maths Week Challenge where students earn points through Math games and quizzes. Students can pick challenges themselves or teachers can set challenges for their students related to specific units of work. Mangahigh is already mapped out with the Irish Curriculum which makes it a brilliant resource for studying and practising maths. Magnahigh are giving away some great prizes including a visit from Marcus Du Sautoy from the University of Oxford or a Pizza Party for the top ten performing classes.
- Transition year students can be tasked with designing interesting math activities or competitions for first year students. You should give them exemplary problems and a criteria to ensure activities require team work, investigation or exploration, critical thinking etc. If the overall activity is successful you could extend this out by inviting a nearby primary school to enjoy an hour or an afternoon of Math activities at the school.
- The annual PRISM (Problem Solving for Second Level Maths) is open to all post-primary schools across the country. The competition can by run by any teacher in their own school on Thursday the 15th of October. This year there will be one common paper for both junior and senior level students.
Hope you all enjoy Maths Week and share the fun on Twitter using @mathsweek or #iusemaths or through the Maths Week Facebook Page.