Port Glasgow High School
Port Glasgow High School is in Inverclyde and has around 560 pupils. The school won a Schools Curriculum award in 2002.
Principal teacher of maths Mark Berry discusses the problem solving programme
Staff in the maths department at Port Glasgow High School considered two models for problem solving. They rejected a formal programme in favour of a less formal approach, in which teachers choose which problems to cover with their classes. Teachers are able to draw on a large bank of graded problems sourced and organised by a member of staff.
One of the resources used at Port Glasgow High School is Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics Education (CAME) material, which was introduced as part of a whole-authority initiative to raise attainment through problem solving. The aim is to improve metacognition and to help pupils to learn through cooperative work in groups. CAME has proved useful to staff in developing formative assessment at the school.
The school has a monthly maths puzzle for S1 and S2 pupils, which is usually taken from the internet. There is a £5 prize for the winner!
| Mark Berry discusses the whole-school programme | |
|---|---|
| Description | Mark Berry describes the less formal problem solving programme chosen by the school and the Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics Education (CAME) material used |
| Duration | 2 minutes 15 seconds |
| Windows version |  Windows Media video: Mark Berry discusses the whole-school programme |
| Mac version |  QuickTime movie: Mark Berry discusses the whole-school programme |
| Transcript | Mark Berry discusses the whole-school programme |