Underground Mathematics – University of Cambridge

From the University of Cambridge comes Underground Mathematics which started in 2012 as the Cambridge Mathematics Education Project (CMEP). The site provides a library of rich resources for age 16+ students with the aim of “Enabling all students to explore the connections that underpin mathematics”. Underground Mathematics is being developed by the University of Cambridge, funded by a grant from the UK Department for Education. The resources are free for all users.

From the home page and you will find the very clear ‘How-to guide‘; use the sections and/or watch the video. Resources are helpfully classified by type and you can browse in many ways.

Note that you can also select individual elements on the map. Try Quadratics for example and check the station guide for information. Looking at the guide led me to Name that graph; as with all the resources on the site more than just the problem is provided, we also have printable resources, solutions and teachers notes.

I thought I’d have a look at Review Questions on Algebra – so much to choose from! How about an A Level question from 1975?! As you can see, not only do we have the question, but a suggestion, then a solution. And if that’s not enough let’s take it further and generalise, exploring on GeoGebra as we do!

I’m tempted to try that one with my very able Year 10 set studying for the new Mathematics GCSE qualification. In fact I suspect we can find other useful questions here for our most able GCSE students.

Prepare to lose yourself for some hours / days in this treasure trove! This resource is frankly incredible and I applaud the team behind this. The site I know will be on my own go to list of places where I know I will always find high quality resources to make my students think and more than that has suggestions for exploring further on a given area and of course explore connected areas.

I predict rich and happy travels around these lines for students and teachers!
See the Underground Maths series of pages for further information.