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.

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 for the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate, it struck me as we were covering matrices that a “fill in the blanks” sheets would (should?) work nicely with them. Hopefully I have come close to hitting the nail on the head… it involves multiplying and transformations.

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.

This is a true or false activity designed to create discussion about stem-and-leaf diagrams. including using them to find the mode, median and IQR. These work well online but also in the classroom.

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 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.

Another fish joke revealed upon converting some metric measures. Self-marking so useful both in class or online.

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.

Three sets of questions where the answers appear on the sheet as well; this allows for the students who are understanding the topic to know that they are because their answers are on the sheet already, leaving the teacher to help those who need it. There are 3 sheets in total of increasing difficulty. I tend to use these at the start of a topic or a starter before moving on to the next stage.

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”!

Six questions, ten answer options. The questions are all based around similar shapes. These are good for students to just get on with as the answers appear 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.

Just two questions on correlation and a bonus question on measures of location involving bounds, but Erica is still having a bit of a nightmare! Can your students explain where Erica has gone wrong so that she doesn’t make the same mistake again?

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.