A Tarsia jigsaw activity with a difference, kindly shared by Gill Hillitt. Unlike traditional Tarsia activities, this one is accompanied by a sheet of additional information containing a variety of data sets presented in different ways. Students must interpret the data and statistical diagrams (including histogram and stem and leaf), and use their answers to complete the jigsaw. This is a nice way of revising the key data handling components of GCSE. For more information about Tarsia, click on the web link.

A Tarsia activity on expanding single brackets. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A presentation covering the nearest neighbour, lower bound and tour improvement algorithms.

A Tarsia activity on difficult quadratics. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A brilliant Tarsia activity by Gill Hillitt on co-ordinate geometry with two points. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments or feedback for Gill, please share them below.

A Tarsia activity to help practice the use of calculators. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

This a rich, Arithmagon activity on Multiplication, linking in prime factors. I love Arithmagons as they allow consolidation of key topics when going Forwards, and then opportunities for extension, creativity and discovery when working Backwards. They are also really easy to modify to suit the particular needs of your class. For all the Arithmagon activities in this series, together with teaching notes and extra information, please visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/arithmagon.htm

Visually demonstrates why the trapezium rule works.

A very basic random number generator with editable parameters.

A Collective Memory activity on Collecting Like Terms and Simplifying. This one contains missing answers and a deliberate mistake! Thanks to Jen Filson for this one! For more information and ideas about how to use this resource, and links to my full index of Collective Memory resources, please More…visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/collectivememory.htm

A Collective Memory activity involving famous Mathematicians. This could act as a way of introducing students to the rich history of the subject. For more information and ideas about how to use this resource, and links to my full index of Collective Memory resources, please visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/collectivememory.htm

Investigating straight line graphs using mobile phone contracts.

An excellent lesson on sampling and estimation, following the SMP S1 book, kindly donated by Lisa McNulty.

A few challenging questions to get everyone thinking.

A few years ago I wrote a set of notes for pupils and put them on my website. The notes were supposed to be written in a pupil-friendly way, and different to notes students might find in textbooks or elsewhere on the internet. I have converted the notes to PowerPoint slides so you can download them, adapt them if needed, use them in revision lessons or perhaps give your students a set to take home with them to help them prepare for exams. The chances are there will be a few mistakes here and there, so if you spot any please email me & I will correct them. Hope they are of use!

A Collective Memory PowerPoint activity on Number Operations. This one contains missing answers and two deliberate mistakes. For more information and ideas about how to use this resource, and links to my full index of Collective Memory resources, please visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/collectivememory.htm

A brilliant Tarsia activity by Gill Hillitt on Sectors and Arc Lengths in degrees. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments or feedback for Gill, please share them below.

Have a play around with this task, and please share any questions, extensions, simplifications, modifications, or lines of inquiry in the comment box below. The idea is to collect loads of suggestions that can then be used for effective differentiation. The full set of these tasks, along with additional notes, can be found here: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/probing-maths-questions-index-page/

Manipulate constants to observe the effect on all types of functions. Use the tabs at the bottom of the worksheet to move between functions.

an introduction into the pigeon and railfence ciphers