Promoting maths

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Promoting maths

• Dr Vivien Easson
• more maths grads
• East London

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Aims of the project

• Improving students perception of maths
• Changing the ways that schools, colleges and
  universities interact
• Helping students find out about options
• Raising awareness of the importance of maths, its
  role in careers, and its links to other subjects
• Encouraging under-represented groups
• Increasing the number applying to take maths
  further (to A-level or degree)

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London East region

• Based at Queen Mary University of London
• Working in four London boroughs
• Barking and Dagenham
• Hackney
• Newham
• Tower Hamlets

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Maths at Queen Mary 1

• Situated in East London, one mile east of the
  City
• Had an increase in numbers of undergraduates by
  60-70 from 2003-2007
• Current goal is to improve quality while
  maintaining numbers (operating at or just above
  capacity)

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Maths at Queen Mary 2

• In 2006/07 the School had 666 undergraduates,
  with
• 18 Indian
• 17 White (combined)
• 14 Chinese
• 14 Pakistani
• 12 Bangladeshi
• 11 Asian (other)
• 6 Black African
• 8 other / refused to say

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Full time undergraduates, UK
Figures from HESA
Steady increase in maths Steady decline in
statistics
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The perception challenge

• mathematics is perceived by many students as
  being hard, boring, not relevant to their future
  and not leading to employment
• Smith Report (2004)
• QCA (2006)

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Our team at Queen Mary

• Vivien Easson (maths subject)
• Zia Rahman (maths careers)
• Jenny Allam (admin)
• Supported by staff, postgrads and undergrads in
  the School of Mathematical Sciences
• (low time-commitment!)

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Five different types of obstacles

• Many school pupils in East London speak a
  language other than English at home
• Parents may not be confident in maths
• Pupils may have little idea how technology,
  culture or other subjects depend on maths
• Careers advice is often weak
• Mathematics department facilities at some
  universities may lag behind other departments and
  business premises

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Possible approaches

• Language barriers / parental skills work with
  Ocean Maths Project who specialise in getting
  parents involved
• Provide alternative role models through use of
  SEAs and student ambassadors
• Find ways of connecting maths to a wide variety
  of applications and of getting this message into
  the classrooms
• Help departments campaign for better facilities

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32 events delivered so far

• Putting together careers info and supplementing
  the work done by the maths/physics outreach
  officer at Queen Mary
• Finding ways to enrich the maths curriculum which
  engage more than just the top 5

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Sample activity Air Miles

• Curriculum travelling salesman problem
• Found in AQA and Edexcel Decision Maths modules
  in AS/A-level but also accessible at GCSE
• Takes 25-30 minutes

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Whats the Point of?

• In the London region were starting to produce
  this series of leaflets
• Aiming to cover many topics in KS4/KS5
• Will be available to download and print out for
  free from the web

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The technology gap

• Interactive whiteboards are standard in schools,
  though some are not fully used
• The two main sixth form colleges in Hackney and
  Tower Hamlets have plasma screens displaying the
  days main events
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJX3VmDgiFnY

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Keeping up with the engineers

• Professional engineering bodies like the
  Institute of Mechanical Engineers have been
  involved in outreach for years
• Maths has had a lot of outreach work, but
  generally by individual volunteers
• This project is a positive step because it
  provides funding for full-time workers in
  addition to universities own officers