Three sets (based around number properties), ten statements and students need to work out if those statements are true or false. This involves union, intersection, subsets and probability involving sets. I have found that these encourage discussion in class.

Find the equation of the tangent to a curve at a given point and reveal the joke (I apologise, I made it up at about 3am). Something different in an A Level class or a challenge in an IGCSE class…

This is aimed at AQA Further Maths Level 2 students but could be used in early A level lessons as something a bit different. Answer the questions, reveal the joke.

This is designed to be non-calculator and was written with the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate in mind, but could also be used for GCSE. It involves simplifying, expanding brackets and rationalising the denominator. The punchline is revealed upon answering all the questions.

Having been over a load of exam papers recently I decided to put together some statements regarding number (odd, even, primes), use of the identity sign, graphs, ratio; there are seven slides in total (plus answers) with increasingly difficult statements to cater for a whole class. The idea is to generate discussion and mathematical thinking, probably at the start of a lesson but use it when you like (if at all).

This does what it says on the tin, nothing fancy. Reveal the joke, which is so bad it’s good…

One tree diagram, numerous questions to figure out a cheesy joke. This involves counters and replacement.

Substitute the given values into the expression to reveal the fish pun; good for class or homework and ideal for online learning.

Four screens of four questions involving indices where the final answer is given but parts of the questions are missing where students must fill in the blanks. Some have unique solutions/blanks and some have multiple or infinite solutions/blanks and this should lead to some great reasoning discussions and debates in class. These have been really successful in my classroom; hopefully they will be in yours as well.

Four sheets where there are 6 questions but 10 potential answers; students are reassured by the answers being on the sheet allow the teacher to get on with helping those who require it. The sheets get increasingly difficult; I tend to use these as starters or as an initial task straight after the explanation.

Five worksheets with fewer questions than answers given allowing students to start and be reassured if their answer appears in the list of potential solutions allowing teacher to help those who really need it. The sheets get increasingly challenging from simplifying, basic rationalising, calculating, expanding brackets and rationalising “full on”!

There are 6 sheets here covering finding the next term in a sequence, using the nth term, finding the nth term (arithmetic and quadratic), summing arithmetic and geometric sequences. These all contain the answers but there are more answers than questions to discourage guessing. this style of sheet has worked well both online and in classrooms in my experience and means that teacher can help those who require it whilst others get on, checking that their answers are on the sheet.

Two sets of questions (one on calculating a side, one on calculating an angle) using the cosine rule, allowing students to place measurements in the formula and work backwards from formula to diagram. This is intended for use when introducing the formula to students but you know your students better than me so use it (or don’t) however you like.

Ten questions of increasing difficulty where four potential answers are given, but only one is correct. These are designed to encourage mathematical discussion in your classroom, where the incorrect answers are the focus of the discussion. These go from describing single transformations through to mapping coordinates to trigonometric functions but it is designed for GCSE or Further Maths Level 2 Certificate.

There are four trees where students can work from bottom to top, choosing an appropriately challenging start point if they wish. This is “introduction to algebra” stuff, I will do expanding and factorising on a separate file but these could offer nice starters or plenaries. It contains adding/subtracting as well as multiplying variables and collecting like terms.

Essentially students must use y=mx+c to answer questions then reveal the punchline to a joke. There is a grid and five lines from which to refer to, but this includes parallel and perpendicular lines and their equations as well.

Eight trees that students can climb based on their knowledge of indices. The idea is to continually ramp up the difficulty and allow students to choose their start point. They start from the most basic writing using powers, laws of indices up to simplifying using fractional and negative indices.

Designed to be used in the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate but could be used at A Level too. Answer the questions, reveal the punchline to a cheesy joke… the usual nonsense.

Find an expression in terms of x for y using circle theorems and discover the punchline to a cheesy joke. Designed for AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate but could be used as an extension at GCSE. Typo corrected!

Five HCF and LCM functional questions using the characters from Phineas and Ferb. All put together in a PowerPoint and including answers. Now with a link to the Phineas and Ferb theme tune! Typos corrected.