Apr 7 2016

UK A Level Reform

I thought it would be useful to collect the information on A Level reform in one place so have reorganized the existing pages under UK Assessment which will provide, I hope, easier access to information. The various pages, which you can see on tabs near the top of the page have been developed from areas which have proved popular.

The series of pages includes the following

National Curriculum UK
Assessment Without Levels KS3 (11-14)
GCSE Reform
GCSE New Content
GCSE New Content – Resources
A Level Reform
Results 2015

From MEI comes this excellent presentation relevant for any new specification whichever examination board is being used. A strength of this presentation is its clarity. Simple statements of fact are given in very clear language and as well as stating what we know we also have a very important reminder of what we don’t know!

Further references and reading
Note that the documents mentioned in the presentation above are included here.

From the Further Mathematics Support Programme:
2017 A Level Mathematics and Further Mathematics
This is really helpful – clear and simple statements. Note the link to the very helpful document on changes to AS/A Level Mathematics & Further Mathematics.

A Level Subject Content for teaching from 2017

GCE Subject Level Guidance from DfE, this guidance is intended to help awarding organisations understand how to comply with the GCE subject-level conditions and requirements for mathematics. The guidance includes further information on the use of Technology and large Data sets. Making Statistics Vital from Jonny Griffiths has some tasks which could be excellent, look at the this task on World Wide Statistics for example which includes the task with answers and a spreadsheet with data for 191 countries. Census at School is an excellent source of data and you can generate data for your own school too.

Making Statistics Vital – Jonny Griffiths

How demanding are questions in the new A level maths? Ofqual is planning to conduct a research study to support the accreditation process for new A level maths qualifications. Taking place in July this year, the research aims to compare the level of difficulty of exam boards’ sample assessment materials by having judges compare pairs of exam questions. An interesting method of comparison and something I have come across before – see No More Marking on Comparative Judgement.

The A level mathematics working group report is a very valuable document and one I referred to in a presentation on GCSE Problem Solving – I do believe we should always look both backwards and forwards to inform our teaching; where have our students been and where are they going? I have also created a new version of the problem solving presentation: Problem Solving 16:19.

The Cambridge Mathematics Education project (CMEP) mentioned in the presentation has now been rebranded as Underground Maths, a superb site which will I feel be very important in our work with our Mathematicians students.

Timelines

For each current school year group (2015-2016) – changes to GCSEs, AS and A Levels

New GCSE and AS & A2 courses for teaching September 2016

New A Level Maths courses – revised start date BBC News Story

Mar 13 2016

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.

UCLES A level Mathematics A 1, QP 840/1, 1975, Q2a

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.

Apr 26 2015

Factorisation – The Box Method!

Responding to a Twitter chat we were discussing the splitting the middle term method (which some students have difficulty with); if one must have a recipe to follow – try the box method. I always encourage students to check coefficients first, if the coefficients of x² and the constant are prime they clearly do not need elaborate methods.

Working on Quadratic Grids from Underground Mathematics will help students develop and understand the method.