Faculty launches new teaching resources for sixth-form mathematics

ta385 — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 11:35:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��innovative new website (undergroundmathematics.org) offers hundreds of free teaching resources to help make A-Level mathematics a richer, more coherent and more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

̽��ֱ��resources combine problem solving, mathematical reasoning and fluency to stimulate curiosity, introduce students to new ideas, and encourage them to pose questions, reflect and collaborate.

̽��ֱ��project’s central aim is to empower students to make connections between different areas of mathematics and thereby develop a deeper understanding.

To achieve this, the new website takes the form of an underground map and arranges its resources around a network of five thematic tube lines: ‘Number’, ‘Geometry’, ‘Algebra’, ‘Functions’, ‘Calculus’.

From here, users can disembark at 23 topic stations, many of which connect two or more thematic lines. For instance, the ‘Quadratics’ station connects the number, geometry and algebra lines.

Each station on the tube map features an overarching question. At the ‘Thinking about Functions’ station teachers and students are asked the question: ‘What are key properties of functions?’ Additional key questions follow which students should be able to discuss by the time they leave the station, such as ‘What features of functions are visible on a graph?’ and ‘What do we mean by symmetry of a function?’

At each station, teachers will find a range of teaching resources, often with notes to support their use in the classroom. Within the resources, the website also provides additional insight into the problem, suggests alternative approaches and highlights links to other areas of mathematics.

When appropriate resources are selected, students should benefit from tasks that provide the opportunity for deeper understanding to develop. Teachers can also visit the ‘Pervasive Ideas’ wheel to access mathematical ideas which permeate topics throughout A level mathematics, such as transformations, symmetry and averages.

̽��ֱ��project’s Directors are Martin Hyland, Professor in Mathematical Logic in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics; and Lynne McClure, Director of Cambridge Mathematics, a partnership between four ̽��ֱ�� departments (Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Press, Cambridge Assessment, and the Faculties of Mathematics and Education).

Professor Hyland said:

“ ̽��ֱ��project aims to help teachers develop the mathematical understanding of all their students. Our resources present students with significant mathematics which enables them to experience the fundamental ideas which pervade the subject.

"Students get the opportunity to question and exchange ideas and become accustomed to tackling unfamiliar problems. We hope that they will appreciate the beauty of mathematics and at the same time acquire the confidence to deploy their skills to meet the challenges of the modern world.”

Lynne McClure said:

“Underground Mathematics offers engaging and thought-provoking tasks which encourage students to communicate, reason and internalise mathematics for themselves. We firmly believe that this will equip students well for the wide range of careers which now also require these more sophisticated skills, as well as preparing them for public examinations.

"And the extensive feedback which we have received shows that both teachers and students really enjoy working in this way. This has always been at the heart of the project.”

Over the last four years, the Underground Mathematics team has worked closely with dozens of partner schools from across England to learn from teacher and student experiences of using the resources, to optimize the website and to discuss wider aspects of the project.

Hannah Page, Mathematics Teacher at Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College, said:

“It was an honour to be invited to try out the resources as the website was being developed, and such fun too! ̽��ֱ��resources are rich, engaging and enjoyable for both the students and the teachers.

"We love the atmosphere they create in the classroom as students develop their problem solving skills and improve their ability to think, and work, collaboratively: skills which are invaluable for them to be honing as they prepare for further academic study and their future careers.

"We look forward to incorporating the resources more and more into the experience we provide our students with.”

Underground Mathematics is the culmination of a five-year project funded by the Government’s Department for Education and delivered by Cambridge’s Faculty of Mathematics.

We hope that students will appreciate the beauty of mathematics and at the same time acquire the confidence to deploy their skills to meet the challenges of the modern world.

Professor Martin Hyland

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Yes

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Training School to provide primary education in North West Cambridge

sjr90 — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 07:03:48 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Training School (UCTS) will have an explicit focus on research-based exemplary teaching and learning practice.

̽��ֱ��school will be a three-form-entry primary school located as part of the North West Cambridge Development, a new sustainable urban extension to Cambridge.

It will be a highly inclusive school in which pupil diversity is welcomed and where all children will be encouraged and enabled to excel.

Its admissions policy will be developed in consultation with existing Cambridge primary schools, as an expression of the ̽��ֱ��’s commitment to the principle of partnership.

̽��ֱ��first priority of the school will be to provide a high-quality primary education to all its pupils.

In addition, as a ̽��ֱ�� Training School, the school will be closely linked to the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education and will join the well-established network of partner schools which work together to provide a PGCE programme that is rated by Ofsted as outstanding.

̽��ֱ��UCTS will fulfil its ̽��ֱ�� Training School function by the inclusion of a centre for research, the focus of which will be student learning, teacher learning, and the relationships between them. Partnership schools and local families will have the opportunity to shape the research programme, which will be agreed between the Faculty of Education and the UCTS Headteacher and teaching staff.

By bridging school-led teacher training, and school-focused academic research, the ̽��ֱ�� will create an integrated and holistic learning community for children and adults that is unique in the UK.

Professor Peter Gronn, Head of the Faculty of Education, said: “We are delighted with this announcement and that the UCTS will proceed. In partnership with schools and Teaching School alliances, the UCTS will build on the outstanding training already provided by the Faculty, thereby enabling it to play a lead national role in the enhancement of teacher quality, student learning and strategies for school improvement”.

̽��ֱ��Department for Education has supported the application by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge to establish a ̽��ֱ�� Training School as part of its North West Cambridge Development.

In partnership with schools and Teaching School alliances, the UCTS will build on the outstanding training already provided by the Faculty, thereby enabling it to play a lead national role in the enhancement of teacher quality, student learning and strategies for school improvement.

Professor Peter Gronn, Head of the Faculty of Education

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Yes

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Department for Education

Faculty launches new teaching resources for sixth-form mathematics

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Training School to provide primary education in North West Cambridge