Category Mathematical Miscellany

A compilation of mathematical goodies!

Jul 24 2021

Mathematical Miscellany #53

Three updates, a puzzle, and the mind-blowing Mathematics of sunflowers!

My post, Reading has proved very popular.

The student version has been updated with a STEM book list from Imperial College, the list has many recommendations in several categories including Mathematics. Imperial College says that the list is aimed at A Level students but is suitable for anyone looking to develop their STEM knowledge and have a great read.

The CGP Headstart to A level Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics are all still free as is a GMAT Foundations of Math Practice book with 900+ problems.

The information on the Autograph web page has been updated and now includes an example file for reflection in y=mx+c and recordings of creating a page to illustrate reflection in a vertical line and creating a reflection in y=mx+c. These are early experiments with recordings, I’ll keep practising!

Published July 2021, we have an updated version of the document which provides details of the Statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff. I have checked and updated my post Linking Curriculum Learning to Careers. We are fortunate in Mathematics to have so many good resources to help us here.

It is the holidays so time for a topical puzzle from OCR, I really like the #OCRmathsPuzzles, look out for them.

You can also see a post on this puzzle from Don Steward, and try three levels of the puzzle on Transum Mathematics.

Transum Mathematics

It’s summertime so I’ll finish with the mind-blowing Mathematics of sunflowers; read Citizen scientists count sunflower spirals from +plus magazine and check the Scientific American video.

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com
Jun 13 2021

Mathematical Miscellany #52

Congratulations to Corbettmaths – 200 million views. 200 million views because it is so good; certainly a go-to site. As well as the brilliant 5-a-day resources the videos and worksheets are also excellent. Do check the ‘More’ menu also, where you will find additional resources including a very comprehensive set of videos and worksheets for level 2 Further Maths.

Corbettmaths – Algebraic Proof, level 2 Further-Maths.
Corbett Maths – A Bit of Everything practice papers

I do like the collection of Practice Papers, note the Revision resources, including A Bit of Everything Papers; the Foundation papers with 116 questions provide very comprehensive syllabus coverage! Each paper includes a contents list with the relevant teaching video.

You can also subscribe to Corbettmaths on YouTube.

Returning on 21st June is Calculator Crunch from MEI. To quote MEI:

On each weekday from 21 June – 1 July we will tweet an engaging question for children to work on – that’s nine questions in total. They all involve using a calculator (basic or scientific) to solve an interesting problem. The problems are designed to deepen children’s mathematical thinking skills in a fun way.

Simply follow @MEIMaths on Twitter and get involved by using the hashtag #CalculatorCrunch.

Calculator Crunch 2020

You can still access all the 2019 and 2020 Calculator Crunch questions.

Matt Woodfine continues to update the brilliant Maths White Board; I see new content added recently, Stem and leaf diagrams and Equation of a circle; I have linked to the recall boards in each case, one of my favourite features of the site is the extensive collection of retrieval practice boards.

Equation of a circle Maths White Board

Also now available is his Term Planner, you can watch the tutorial video to find out more. The planner will allow you to quickly access specific resources from the site.

Maths White Board is easily available from the Use of Technology menu – see tab at the top of the screen.

New KS3 resources are available form Pearson Edexcel. Go to Pearson Edexcel’s Teaching and learning materials and look under key stage 3 support.

Pearson Edexcel-Teaching and-Learning Materials
Apr 1 2021

Data Science Course

As you can see from Tom Button, MEI’s Introduction to Data Science Short Course is now freely available from MEI.

The course uses the large data sets for all the examination boards, note too this very useful page from MEI on the large data sets. Not only are there links to all the large data sets but resources using Desmos, Excel and GeoGebra.

Check this playlist on YouTube of the MEI large data set videos.

Teacher webinars are all available online; see Data Science Teacher Guidance.

Mar 9 2021

Diagnostic Question a Day

From Craig Barton, look at his latest site, DQaDay.

Really get your students thinking about these questions, not just answering them correctly but thinking about the questions you can see in the image – can you explain the mistakes and how can you be convincing that the incorrect responses are incorrect.

Diagnostic Question a Day – Craig Barton

You can search for questions in various ways including the clear tags. Each question very usefully shows the spread of answers on Diagnostic Questions, a link to the question and a link to the quiz from which the question is taken. Check Labelling right-angles triangles for example.

Looking for questions by topic I really like the Collections.

There is extensive help available on Diagnostic Questions including these Help Videos.