The people running Bedford bridges mini-marathon in England, UK want to extend the number of bridges it crosses. Bedford, England has a great many bridges. Can you find a route that crosses each bridge only once?

I have simply transformed the work of superb artist angelustenebrae into poster form (A2). Simultaneously beautiful and informative.

A poem to enable discussion of gender politics in an ancient but familiar, and mathematical, context. Incidentally, what is the maximum possible number of Queens on the board?

double binary power index country dancing growth cell division mitosis doubling

Pupils are asked to label a circle with compass directions and angles. The trick is that the circle is already labelled: with months and times [in hours (12 and 24) and minutes]. All jolly confusing... until they stop to process, sort and think! The dice at the edges add potential for an extra question around how to randomly choose a time/angle for something! There is a second circle with weeks, suits of cards, letters of the alphabet and two marathons. More confusion! More thought. Where will your pupils take you with them...

Takes a bit of effort to imagine when simultaneous equations may come in handy. Partly inspired by the new fashion of publishing the tax returns of persons in "positions in influence" (with a view to identifying enemy agents: with "foreign" income sources), these questions will hopefully awaken pupils' interest in simultaneous equations and how/when/why they might (just might!) become useful in "real life"... [now with, step-by-step, solutions]

A set of slides to introduce Pythagoras' Theorem like the Rugby Off-side rule: (i) with little extra information [maybe supplemented with explanation]; (ii) with movement; (iii) with different (technical) labelling.

Self explanatory. Identify gradient and y-intercept of line so correct shot is taken by laser to stop Kim Jong Il’s missiles. If the wrong equations are chosen, and the back-up fails, the consequences are clear…

A 4 question refresher (covering a few options / decisions re. estimating & rounding), with worked solutions. Useful for mini-plenary, plenary or starter. Designed to open pupils’ minds to variety of estimation/rounding methods required in different circumstances.

Expanding one and two binomials (single and double brackets); with positively wibbly wobbly variables.

Subject to further development…

With many thanks to Don Steward for inspiration on Saturday 16 March 2019 at ATM London, IoE, UCL, London. Cross links to ratio, sequences and gradient. Square dotty paper is set as back ground for slides; so you can build your own or print and ask your pupils to create their own. I’m certain you have access to more than enough questions on adding fractions. This merely provides pupils with a different means to answer them; visually/geometrically.

Adding Multiplication Estimation

A set of three colourful questions to encourage pupils to understand: (i) why angle-naming conventions exist and (ii) how to apply them.

Seeing gradient.

Video demonstration of planes of symmetry in real shapes: using play dough. Planes of symmetry of cuboid. Planes of symmetry of triangular prism.

Eight slides to prepare for Christmas. Does Father Christmas really exist? If so, where does he come from? The links from the slides suffice to begin a greater journey into how the name and image of St Nicholas has changed over the past 1300+ years (at the hands of Martin Luther (and Protestant Christians), Coca Cola and others) but also how his eternal spirit travels and lives on.

A series of links for World Space Week 2020. Designed to spur exploration. The truth is out there…

Trigonometric Ratios from first principles & pythagoras’ theorem. Set in context of tracking a star orbiting an Earth assumed to be flat (as it seemingly was at the time the principles were first developed!).

Something inspired by thoughts on sun dials and a once-held belief that the world was flat; possibly a flat disc floating in water. In essence it may provide (at least) a "holding" answer to an old teenage question: "If zero degrees is north (a.k.a. "up" on a 2D map) for bearings questions, why is it east for more advanced trigonometry?". The STEM-Ginger Beer Glass answers a separate (but related) question (or begins to).