Fun Maths Roadshow
Norma Macpherson, Advisory Teacher, Mathematics, East Lothian
Norma Macpherson explains how a Stirling Maths Fund grant was used in East Lothian to create their Fun Maths Roadshow.
In 1997 the Liverpool Mathematical Society was offered funding from Girobank to create a child-centred activity. A committee was formed to develop a set of materials which had been started in a primary school by two teachers. In 1998 the Fun Maths Roadshow was ready for piloting. In 1998/99 it was run, as an event, in more than 100 schools. In each school it was judged an unqualified success.
In 2000 the Roadshow reached Edinburgh. In the School of Mathematics at Edinburgh University, the Schools Liaison Officer developed the Roadshow. She invited schools to visit the Department of Mathematics in Kings Buildings to work with the Roadshow. It was there that I first saw a group of P6 children engrossed for one hour in mathematical puzzles.
The pupils worked in pairs and moved around a room set up with 100 workstations. Each workstation had a puzzle question. With most questions there was equipment - frogs, dominoes, counters, draughts, etc. The questions were numbered and colour-coded. Prior to entering the room the pupils were guided to recognise that the questions on green paper were generally considered to be the simplest and those on blue were the most challenging. There were four colour bands of difficulty. The rule of thumb was that the higher the number of the question the more challenging it was.
Pupils could start anywhere in the room, on any problem, and were given the guidance to move to a different colour/number if they found the question too easy or too difficult. Pupils were guided to recognise that they were not in a competition to see who completed the most problems as some problems took longer than others. When a pair of pupils thought they had solved the problem they put up their hands and a marker checked that they were correct. A numbered grid was initialled to record that the problem was solved.
I recognised the potential of this resource and arranged to borrow it on seven occasions. Each time I used the resource it was, as had previously been discovered, an unqualified success.
Liverpool University supplies the 100 questions on A4 paper and provides a list of the materials required to work out solutions. The pack costs £9.99. It is creating the working resource with all the component parts which takes time. The Schools Liaison Officer at Edinburgh University estimated that she had spent 100 hours sorting, laminating, ordering and storing materials to produce the Edinburgh version of the Fun Maths Roadshow.
The Stirling Maths Fund
At the Scottish Mathematical Conference in Stirling in 2003 I read about the Stirling Maths Fund, established by Geoff Giles, which offered grants for projects that could lead directly or indirectly to an improvement in the mathematics education of children in Scotland. I knew that if we had the Fun Maths Roadshow in East Lothian we could offer this mathematical problem solving experience to the 35 primary and six secondary schools. We could then monitor its use and encourage its integration into schools' mathematics education.
What the 'Fun Maths Roadshow' provides
- a collaborative problem-solving experience
- differentiated mathematical material
- an opportunity for teachers to observe their pupils
- a record of problems solved
- a mixture of real-life and numerical problems
- an easily managed resource
- enjoyable and fun mathematics
How the grant was used
A meeting was held in John Muir House with the Education Officer and a way forward was planned. The headteacher in King's Meadow Primary in Haddington was approached and asked if he felt it would be appropriate to approach two members of his ancillary staff to ask them if they were willing to take on the task of converting 100 A4 sheets of paper with problems into a working Roadshow. They readily agreed to take on the challenge!
They were shown the Edinburgh version in August 2003 and immediately started to plan how they would organise the production. Lindsey, who is the school secretary, ordered the materials required for each problem, laminates for the question boards, coloured paper to order the questions into the four levels of difficulty, coloured boxes to store the materials in and coloured zipper wallets. Heather photocopied the A4 question sheets on to A3 coloured paper and laminated each question board. Lindsey created stickers for each zipper wallet so that the organisation was foolproof.
Together they discussed and saw opportunities to improve the original presentation. After 100 hours of work spread over five months the East Lothian Fun Maths Roadshow was ready for use. The grant was used to pay for the time given by Lindsey and Heather.
The way forward
On 12 March 2004 a CPD open session, to which primary teachers were invited, was run in Prestonpans Primary. The teachers who attended were told about the background to the Fun Maths Roadshow, were guided on how it works and were given an explanation of its implementation. Guidance on how teachers should use it was offered and information provided on how to incorporate it into their mathematics planning.
The teachers then worked with the problems. The group who had worked on the Edinburgh version that afternoon were then shown the Stirling Funded East Lothian Fun Maths Roadshow! It was explained how they might borrow the resource for their school.
On 19 March 2004 the principal teachers of mathematics in East Lothian met and were shown the resource.
In session 2004-05 primary headteachers will be introduced to the resource and the borrowing procedure explained.
Teachers who are using it in school for the first time can request the support of the advisory teacher of mathematics.
It has been agreed by the headteacher of King's Meadow Primary that the Fun Maths Roadshow will be held in King's Meadow Primary and that Lindsey will take charge of the bookings.
Conclusion
East Lothian will benefit enormously from the grant, which allowed us to move this project forward.
The authority has a resource which allows pupils to enjoy a fun mathematics experience which challenges them, allows them to work collaboratively and allows them to work with differentiated material without fear of failure. Teachers will be offered an opportunity to observe their pupils in this problem-solving environment and be able to assess next steps.
The resource is now available and the booking system is in place. Principal teachers of mathematics, primary school headteachers and classroom practitioners are gradually learning about its value.