1. Welcome and feedback
2. My three favourite talks
from Maths Jam 2010
3. ATM and MA Easter Conferences
4. Nice Enrichment Lesson Idea
5. New Book due out in 2011 – exclusive news for
subscribers only!
6. Booking Dates
7. Website of the Month
1.
Welcome to the December
2010 Newsletter
Dear
Friends- welcome to the last mathematics newsletter of 2010, in association
with Hewlett-Packard, whose sponsorship ensures this
remains a free service for (at the last count) 3889 teachers. Some good stuff this month, including an
exclusive ‘heads up’ on my new book due out next year, and a great lesson idea
for the end of term that isn’t just a time filler.
Lots to
tell you about recently – my recent spate of speaking engagements went well, including
a great secondary HoDs conference in Bucks and a BEAM
Keynote Primary lecture in Stirling the very next
morning. Never try to buy a shirt at Terminal 5, by the way, but that’s a story
for another time…I also gave my shortest talk ever (5 minutes!) at MathsJam; see item 2.
See item 3
for some important dates in the Easter break next year. Those of you who have
been subscribers for a while will know that I have a fondness for dates with a
mathematical element, and thus it was rather remiss of me not to point out that
last month we had not one but TWO fantastic dates! The first of November was palindromic when written 01/11/10. What an amazing date –
when will that happen again? Also, the 12th was a great date, as it
was a descending sequence: 12/11/10. That will happen again just once next year
(I’m sure you can work out when), and then not again for the whole of the 21st
century! If that doesn’t interest you, this is not the newsletter for you (or
maybe you just have a more interesting life than I do).
Have a
happy, blessed and meaningful Christmas.
2.
My 3 Favourite Maths Ideas from MathsJam 2010
MathsJam was the brainchild of Colin Wright. Based on the ‘Gatherings
for Gardner’ held annually in the USA to honour
Martin Gardner (who sadly passed away earlier this year), this was the first national
one to be held in the UK. It took place during November at Yarnfield
Park in Staffordshire, and was a coming-together of a whole range of
mathematicians from all over the UK. The
idea is that everyone (or nearly everyone) gives a 5-minute talk on ANY
aspect of maths, from elementary pattern-spotting to
advanced calculus.
We all got
to vote for our favourite, and I voted for Sian
Bedford, currently studying maths at university. Her
talk was on the perils of being the daughter of a mathematician! A very
confident and funny presentation from someone who had survived the ‘embarrassing
dad’ syndrome and come out blossoming on the other side!
On the
mathematical front, in no particular order, I liked Matt Parker’s offering: while
2 to the power 4 and 4 to the power 2 are the same value, is this unique, asked
Matt, or are there any other two integers for which this was true?
Secondly I
enjoyed Alex Bellos’s talk in which he showed us some
phenomenal mental arithmetic being done by children in Japan who could
literally add 3-digit numbers together at the rate of 2 or 3 per second simply
by using an abacus in their heads. They could even do it while playing a word
game as this used a completely different part of the brain!
My third
choice was someone whose name I did not catch (someone email me and I will credit him in January’s newsletter). He
proved that more than 99.99% of numbers contain the digit ‘3’. Brilliant logic, and an entertaining presentation.
There were
loads more great talks – I now know how to construct a cross-section of
a 50p piece (and it may not be how you thought!) and how to make non-spherical
balls. Ahem.
(In case you were wondering, yes, I did do a
talk, on the ancient world’s geometric problem of squaring the circle.) If MathsJam 2011 happens, and I hope it will, you MUST attend
if you love mathematics for its own sake.
3.
ATM and MA Easter
Conferences
They are
great! I think it is a shame that these conferences are populated almost
entirely by academics and secondary school teachers. Don’t misunderstand that –
I value and admire such folk very highly, but I always want to see more primary
teachers at these events, as I KNOW they would enjoy it! Next year I am
delighted that both the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) and the
Mathematical Association (MA) are BOTH holding a primary day in the middle of
their conferences. So, if you are a primary teacher who wants loads of great ideas
to enliven and enrich your maths lessons, why not go
just for the day? It’s cheaper, and if you are not that confident a
practitioner there are loads of people who will be incredibly nice to you. At
both primary days I am giving a lecture on using Cuisenaire rods in KS1 and
KS2, aimed at total beginners and even maths-phobics,
and it would be brilliant to see subscribers there.
Also, at
the MA conference, to start the primary day, Rob Eastaway and I are doing a
presentation of some of our favourite moments from
Martin Gardner’s works which are aimed at a primary audience. So – it would be
brilliant to see primary colleagues there!
Details of
both conferences can be found here:
Maths Association Association
of Teachers of Mathematics
4. Nice Lesson Idea?
Well, I
think so! We often need ideas for that ‘last lesson of the Christmas term’ and
here is one I came up recently with while researching magic squares for a Royal
Insitutute Masterclass:
In the
famous 1514 engraving by Albrecht Durer entitled Melancholia, there is a fascinating
4x4 magic square in the top right corner. If you look closer, you will find
that the two numbers at the centre of the bottom row are 15 and 14
respectively, thereby accurately dating his work! Very clever, and a quick
search of Google Images will bring up a copy that you can display on an IWB. I
have also created a simple spreadsheet (I
may make it available free to subscribers next year, but you can make your own
very simply) showing how to create and test magic squares. It also provides
a clue to the way in which I believe Durer created his magic square, if indeed
it was his own work. This is a very simple thing to do yet will really engage
pupils. It is also very good for their mental arithmetic skills, so is a good
use of maths enrichment time.
Of course
there is no need to use ICT at all – you can give them digit cards and ask them
to arrange them in order to generate a magic square, but probably best to start
with a 3 by 3 and just 9 cards. Incidentally, my R.I. Masterclass will use the
low-tech and the hi-tech approaches; I will let you know next time which worked
best, but I would love to hear from those of you who have tried it.
5. New Publication for 2011: ‘Maths
at the drop of a Hat’
For some
time now I have been collecting ideas for a book that needs writing but that
none of us like to admit that we want! Intrigued? Well, for most of us there
have been times when for whatever reason we have to teach a maths
lesson and are not as prepared as we would like to have been. So, the idea of
my latest book, ‘Maths at the drop of a Hat’, is to provide a book of quick but
high quality ideas for teaching a really effective lesson on a whole range of
topics.
The aim is
that you can pick up the book, read for about one minute, then
teach a great lesson with little or no need to prepare or photocopy anything.
It is nearly finished, but other things keep getting in the way of its
completion, so no promises, but I am hoping for publication by the end of
January. And as subscribers, you will hear of it first of course!
6. Booking Dates
Sadly I must
confirm that I now am fully booked up to do workshops, INSET, coaching, masterclasses, conferences, magic maths
shows, etc, until the start of the Summer term 2011.
Thanks to
those who got in touch to secure the last few dates after my final call last
month. Apologies to those of you to whom I have had to say
‘no’ on this occasion. I am considering training a few people to deliver
sessions on my behalf, and I would be interested to know what people thought of
this idea. It would be a bit cheaper for schools, and it would be more likely
that we could offer the exact date people needed.
7. Website of
the Month
While in Stirling for the BEAM
Conference I met a lovely lady called Amy Sinclair who has just set up a new
website with lots of free maths resources for busy
primary teachers. Amy is a really bubbly mathematics enthusiast, and full of
lovely ideas, so why not visit her website at http://activelearninginmaths.co.uk/
as you should find loads of great ideas there. Tell Amy I sent you!
So - thank you yet again for being a subscriber, and remember, if you enjoy the newsletter, please encourage others to sign up by entering their email address at http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/newsletter.asp. It would be lovely to get to 4000 by the new year!
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