An interesting activty from Virtual Maths.
http://www.virtualmaths.org/activities/shapes/basement#
Oct 212013
Oct 202013
This interactive worksheet will help you get to grips with simple and compound interest.
Oct 082013
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A shocking maths exercise looking at the changing ratio of boy to girl births in Asia.
Oct 042013
Obesity is still increasing in South Yorkshire. Do the maths, then go and get some exercise!
Sep 292013
Image from the Lisa Simpson Bookclub
Simon Singh has written a book about maths in the Simpsons. Read all about it here on the Guardian website.
Have a read of the article and find out about Fermat’s Last Theorem, Perfect Numbers, Narcissistic numbers, Mersenne Primes, Googols and Googolplexs and lots more! You may not need to know this stuff to pass your maths exam, but hopefully you’ll see that maths can be both fascinating and fun!
Aug 132013
This activity is about a wind turbine in Norfolk. Watch the video first, then try to answer the questions. You will need a calculator.
You can either do the activity on-line, or download and print the worksheet.
Aug 042013
This exercise will give you practice in writing big numbers in words. Many thanks to Sheffield Renewables for the use of their Top Trump cards to make this exercise.
Before you start here is an example. The St Wilfreds Centre has solar panels that produce 3250 kwh of electricity. In words this is three thousand two hundred and fifty kwh. Kwh stands for kilo watt hours.
May 292013
Use these links to research optical illusions.
What are your favourite illusions? Make them into a Powerpoint presentation.
Can you use what you have learnt to design your own illusion?
A search engine will find many more!
May 282013
Dr Eugenia Cheng from Sheffield University hit the news today as she published her findings about the maths behind the perfect cream tea. An internet search will find articles on BBC and ITV news and many national newspapers. Have a go at this activity to see if you can use the formulae for a perfect cream tea..
May 152013
In these days of austerity, benefits are being cut and prices continue to rise. It has never been more important to be careful with your money, as getting into debt can spiral out of control and have dire consequences. A first step in taking control of your finances is to understand what you spend your money on. This sheet will help you work this out. To do it accurately you will need to record your spending carefully for several weeks but you may be able to estimate figures until you have got more accurate information.
Fill the figures in for an average month. So for example if you pay an MOT fee of £54.85 each year this would be recorded as 54.85/12 = £4.57 a month. If you spend £10 at the pub once a week that would be recorded as 4 x £10 = £40.
There is also an on-line version which does the sums for you here.
May 112013
In May 2013 global levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passed the milestone of 400 parts per million. This exercise will challenge your maths and help you understand why this is so important.
Apr 282013
Apr 172013
Watch the video on Income Inequality then see if you can answer the questions.
Apr 052013
Nelson Thornes have published a very attractive Functional Skills Maths Childcare workbook. It covers levels from Entry 3 to Level 2 and all the maths is set in the context of childcare. Topics include Body Mass Index, Child Protection Legislation, Childcare provision, Children in Need, National Child Measurement Programme, Staffing Ratios and lots more. This book will not only be useful to Childcare students but will be an invaluable resource for teachers and lecturers with mixed groups of students looking for ways to make maths relevant and “functional”.
I particularly like the section on measuring babies which looks at length and head circumference and uses a centile chart for boys weight during their first year. I like the way each section includes questions at three different levels, making differentiation a doddle!
I originally posted “The only down side with the book is that there are no answers. How do students working on their own know that they have got the calculations right? Busy teachers still have to work out all the answers!” but I stand corrected. The answers are all freely available by registering on the website at
Mar 252013
Mar 252013
Mar 022013
How many triangles are in this shape? (A Transum starter)
Download a pdf worksheet here.
When you are absolutely sure you have counted them all, click here and press the yellow button to see if you are right.
Mar 022013
This cube has 6 faces, 8 vertices (corners) and 12 edges.
This square based pyramid has 5 faces, 5 vertices and 8 edges.
See how quickly you can do this quiz from Purpose Games. Click start, then the computer will give you a number for either F (faces), V (Vertices) or E (Edges). You just have to click on the letter next to the right shape.
Mar 022013
Do you know your prisms from your pyramids? See how quickly you can do this quiz from Purpose Games. Click start, then click on the shape whose name appears at the top.
Feb 282013
Here is a great site to discover all about three dimensional shapes. Find some scissors and glue, print off some of these nets and see what you can make! http://www.korthalsaltes.com/cuadros.php?type=p
