As with previous reports of activity at the annual Institute of Mathematics Pedagogy, this does not disappoint. The tasks used to support teaching and learning in mathematics can vary in so many ways, but this variation is compounded when learners begin to access the tasks. A task that really motivates and challenges one learner is likely to…

The Institute of Mathematical pedagogy meets annually--the theme for 2010 was: "Mathematical Friends & Relations: Recognising Structural Relationships". Here one participant documents her reflections on the experience of working with a group of mathematics educators at the Institute. The challenges, the responses--both the predictable and the…

The multiplicative principle is the tool allowing the counting of groups that can be described by a sequence of events. An event is a subset of sample space, i.e. a collection of possible outcomes, which may be equal to or smaller than the sample space as a whole. It is important that students understand this basic principle early on and know how…

This article features a mathematical game called "Mystery Person." The author describes how the Mystery Person game was tried with first-graders [age 6]. The Mystery games involve the generation of key questions, the coordination of information--often very complex information--and the formulation of consequences based on this…

When planning a lesson, many teachers will start by listing content-based objectives; after all, this is how the majority of textbooks, schemes of work and lesson planning templates are constructed. This is understandable, as for many years now teachers have been legally required to teach the national curriculum which was a list of content-based…

Linton Waters and Jayne Kranat ran a session on the Nuffield "Applying Mathematical Processes" (AMP) activities at BCME7 in Manchester in April this year. These 1-2 hour activities are revamps of some of the Graded Assessment in Mathematics (GAIM) resources, developed in the 1980s, and are freely available via the Nuffield website and…

This article seeks to provide an insight into little known numerical methods for deriving meaning from ancient sacred texts to give an understanding of some of the symbolism contained in the wonderful artwork and sculptures of Venetian artist Tobia Rava. The author describes how he used Rava's artwork to inspire a multi-faceted mathematics…

The recently revised "Northern Ireland Primary Curriculum" recommends that teachers make use of the environment to extend children's understanding of mathematics. One approach to using the environment in mathematics is to take children on a mathematics trail. A mathematics trail uses the resources and features within the environment as a…

The authors explore the teaching of trigonometry using a method developed by Jeremy Burke of Kings College. A series of lessons was planned using an approach which looks at moving from a mathematical description of the topic, to a sequence plan, to a set of activities, which students can use to help them come to understand the topic. This is…

Describes the Circle Scribe Disk Compass and explains its use in helping children to explore patterns and geometry. Topics include Fibonnacci's spiral and regular polygons. (MM)

Describes a very successful attempt to teach fractions to year 5 pupils based on pupils making their own fraction pack. Children decided for themselves how to make the fractional slices used in the activity using colored cardboard sheets and templates of a paper circle consisting of 24 equal slices. (Author/NB)