Applying Mathematics Beyond The Curriculum CPD Workshop By Tamara Bakry
Earlier this month, the Maths Scholarships team hosted the Maths Scholars Resources Workshop 2024 at the National STEM Learning Centre in York. Maths Scholars attended from across the country, joined by academics who ran workshops throughout the day to enrich our maths learning.
The event began with a workshop from Michael Anderson the ENTHUSE Partnership Education Lead at STEM Learning UK, on how to implement Maths beyond the curriculum into your classroom. Mr Anderson shared his extensive first-hand experience of the value of stretching students beyond the curriculum as well as sharing insightful suggestions to widen opportunities available to students.
We kick started this workshop with a ‘Maths Icebreaker’, say a number and I will tell you if I like it or not. Very quickly we started racking up a table of all types of numbers and with some audible “Ohhh”’s and “Ahhh…”’s participants started to notice the pattern. If you knew the rule, you were to say a number that ‘I like’ and a number that ‘I don’t like’. You can play this game with numerous rules, ours was ‘I like it if it is a factor of 60’. What a creative way to open the session, which forced a room full of strangers to work as one big team, seemingly without even realising. For many this icebreaker did just that, it broke the ice, making us all confident in each other’s’ maths knowledge. It became obvious how such a simple 5-minute game can be implemented into our classrooms to get students working together.
The workshop continued with a game of dominoes. It was entertaining to know that dominoes had so many applications in mathematics and problem solving. Whether your class knows how to play dominoes or not, many of these activities are accessible to all. We were given a set of dominoes, one between two, but each set was missing a domino – our first task was to find which one. To a student who has never played dominos before, this is a great opportunity for them to think about what a set contains.
Throughout the morning, we continued solving curriculum-based problems, maths games and discussed how effectively to use STEM Ambassadors, information on this is available through their website. However, my favourite takeaway from this workshop was the support programme STEM Learning UK provides for STEM Clubs in schools. In addition to its ample resources, STEM Learning offers a ‘Quality Check’ to your very own club, where you can gain Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation!
It was without a doubt a privilege to attend this workshop hosted by Mr Anderson. Whether you are looking to implement something creative into your classroom, enlist help from a STEM Ambassador, find activities for enrichment week, continue your professional development, or even start a STEM club, STEM Learning UK has it all. And, if you are ever in York, the National STEM Learning Centre, in Heslington, is definitely worth a visit, their resource centre is packed full of books, games, and much more.
By Tamara Bakry
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