IMA:Education Grant

In the last weeks of the school holidays, around 40 teachers got ready for the new term by attending the National Maths Teacher Summer School (NMTSS), run by Tony Gardiner, hosted at the National Science Learning Centre (NSLC) based at York University. The aim of the course was to · provide a professional life-changing experience for potential leaders within the profession; · introduce participants to, or refreshing participants in, a broader vision of what constitutes elementary mathematics; · actively encourage reflection on the professional implications of this broader vision; · engage all participants in ‘doing mathematics’ themselves and immersing them in a rich tapestry of appropriate mathematics; · create a lasting collegiate community which supports the goals of the week and which can support participants beyond the end of the Summer School; · establish (or revive) in participants a fresh commitment to their profession with a view to keeping them in the classroom longer than might otherwise be the case.

Not knowing quite what to expect, I began my 12 hour journey from deepest Dorset to Yorkshire. Upon arrival, we were greeted with a mathematical trail around the campus to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings and important locations, such as the local hostelry and our accommodation.

During the evening, to let us know what was in store, our evening speaker was Leonard Euler (looking good at 302 years old!) giving us a potted history of his life and greatest work. I was amazed as to how many aspects of mathematics he was involved with.

Each day was structured to have an early morning problem solving session, designed to exercise our brains for the day ahead. On day one, the problems initially seemed quite trivial; a tangram was laid out and we thought that this was going to be pretty straightforward. Alas, no! The problems set were more than just making pretty shapes! More interesting were the problems set regarding what triangles could be created from the seven pieces, but moving into a proof that all were found. This was then extended into quadrilaterals and convex polygons. This provoked how these ideas could be used in the classroom. What is a pretty simple concept suddenly has the ability to challenge even the most able KS5 students. This was the general type of brain teasers set in the mornings! My favorite were those set by Alcuin (c. 775) in his ‘Problems for the Quickening of the Mind’.

Each day was split into a series of seminars, and sessions run by Tony Gardiner, Jenny Goulding and Gerry Leversha. Tony spent much of his lectures on the topic of giftedness in mathematics and how we could appropriately challenge the very best students in a classroom.

Jenny spent much time exploring what we would like students to do mathematically in context of their understanding and communication of mathematics and this being best done through rich mathematical tasks encouraging higher order thinking skills. Examples of mathematically rich tasks were shared and discussed. Gerry introduced us to Geometry. Certainly for me, this as the most enlightening aspect of my own mathematics. For some reason, at no point in my life had I been taught, or even read about Geometry, and so to have a crash course in geometric proof was a most satisfying activity. Being able to ‘prove’ the Pons Asinorum was highly satisfying as I had just assumed that it simply was true. I have now started to integrate some of the easier aspects into my teaching so that my students can start to benefit from being able to answer such questions. Finally a use for congruent triangles in the classroom!

Every evening, we had a guest speaker to delight us followed by evening entertainments. I must say that I found Colin Wright’s amazing juggling skills and especially his ability to express juggling patterns mathematically truly enlightening. If ever an opportunity arises to see him, you simply must go. Tom Button, from the NSLC gave us a crash course in using GeoGebra, using some of the ideas that Gerry had talked about earlier.

The final evening was the pub quiz. This is the first pub quiz that I have ever won in my life, the answers to all questions having a very specific mathematical theme. For instance, in the statistical section, “Who was the main star in the bodyguard?” could only be (Mann-) Whitney Houston!! Tenuous but great fun!!

The whole course was a thoroughly inspiring week, revitalizing my desire to want to do mathematics and want to teach mathematics. It gave me a new way of approaching the subject and gave me many ideas to use in the classroom and share with my colleagues. I would urge any teacher who is able to attend future NMTSS’s to give it serious consideration. It was by far the most useful and relevant professional development I have ever received.

MARTIN CROZIER CMath MIMA, CSci