Graham Colman has been a UK high school and sixth form maths teacher since September 2001. Here you'll find a wealth of great maths and space science resources which have been used, tried and tested and actually work in the classroom. Graham runs his own popular maths website at www.colmanweb.co.uk where you'll find many more resources like these. You can email Graham at grahamcolman@colmanweb.co.uk
Graham Colman has been a UK high school and sixth form maths teacher since September 2001. Here you'll find a wealth of great maths and space science resources which have been used, tried and tested and actually work in the classroom. Graham runs his own popular maths website at www.colmanweb.co.uk where you'll find many more resources like these. You can email Graham at grahamcolman@colmanweb.co.uk
Three match-up puzzles for pupils to practice chain rule. First is straightforward polynomial brackets, second involves square roots and negative &/or fractional indices, the third involves exponentials and trig functions. The stars indicate the questions but you can choose whether or not to tell students this.
Answers included together with blank templates for pupils to create their own puzzles.
Tried and tested, and corrected(!), in the classroom many times. This download includes a pdf file as well as the original powerpoint file for easy editing.
Also available as complete set together with match-up product and quotient rule questions.
Three match-up puzzles for pupils to practice product rule. First is straightforward polynomial brackets, second involves square roots and negative &/or fractional indices, the third involves exponentials and trig functions. The stars indicate the questions but you can choose whether or not to tell students this.
Answers included together with blank templates for pupils to create their own puzzles.
Tried and tested, and corrected(!), in the classroom many times. This download includes a pdf file as well as the original powerpoint file for easy editing.
Also available as complete set together with chain rule and quotient rule match-ups.
Three match-up puzzles for pupils to practice chain rule. First is straightforward polynomial brackets, second involves square roots and negative &/or fractional indices, the third involves exponentials and trig functions. The stars indicate the questions but you can choose whether or not to tell students this.
Answers included together with blank templates for pupils to create their own puzzles.
Tried and tested, and corrected(!), in the classroom many times. This download includes a pdf file as well as the original powerpoint file for easy editing.
Also available as complete set together with chain and product rule match-ups.
Here’s a well thought out set of binomial expansion questions for Year 13 students (A level Year 2). Includes the general formula at top of page then eight questions for learning plus another eight for more practice plus an* application of* style question to finish.
Tried and tested in the classroom many times.
This download includes a pdf file as well as the original word file for easy editing.
A lovely quiz to check pupils understanding of some key concepts from the AQA Core 3 module. Here are 12 rich-maths questions covering the typical major misconceptions. Includes answers.
Tried and tested in the classroom many times. This download includes a pdf file as well as the original word file for easy editing.
A well structured set of questions to check students understanding and abilities in…
Percentage of,
Percentage increase & decrease,
Reverse percentage,
Compound interest
Includes answers. Ideal for Yr7-9 students. Tried and tested in the classroom many times. This download includes a pdf file as well as the original word file for easy editing.
This is an activity for Yr13 pupils to check and extend their understanding of vectors. This is a a set of questions to really check understanding of several vector concepts including magnitudes of vectors, vector equations of lines, scalar product and closest distance between a point and a line. Answers and workings included for our suggested vectors but you, the teacher, could choose to ask students for their own vector suggestions which would give completely different answers.
Bonus Resource 1: Notes on Vectors. This is the set of ‘notes on a page’ that I give to my students doing this topic.
Bonus Resource 2: Vector Triangles in 3D Space - A great problem-solving-style, simple question with many approaches and possible answers; Sort these triangles into scalene, isosceles and equilateral. Which are right angled too? The task involves using lots of those key vector techniques that students need to be able to perform. Sorry, no answers here this time though.
Tried and tested in the classroom many times. This download includes all files as pdfs as well as the original word files for easy editing.
Perfect for top-end GCSE or A level/GCSE consolidation. Here’s a well laid out task consisting of 20 questions, being 4 questions based on each of;
Pythagoras
Standard right-angled trig
Sine rule
Cosine rule
Sine rule for area.
As well as a couple of straightforward questions there’s also real clanger or two of a question in each section. This will keep students busy for a full lesson. Answers included.
Tried and tested, and corrected(!), in the classroom many times. This download includes a pdf file as well as the original powerpoint file for easy editing.
Video guide to this resource at www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ7yDRU1vxg.
Write reports easily with this template/writing frame. It will save you hours - aim to create a set of good reports in 20mins per class. With this full version of this resource you can write reports on up to 35 students at a time and this version includes more ready made comments.
An important note… This file uses macros to do all the fancy stuff, but macros don’t work on Macs so you’ll need to run this file on a windows computer. It’s an Apple thing and is the same with all macro-based files.
Use the existing maths comments or add/replace with your own, following the instructions and formats given. When report day comes around just choose the relevant comments by typing a number and hitting ‘create&save’ and your reports are written. Simply copy and paste into eportal/sims etc.
This download includes a BONUS RESOURCE – Easy UCAS Report Writer ‘Lite’ Excel file. This file is based on the same style as the original report writer but is adapted for writing UCAS reports with sections for comments including Work Ethic, Teamwork, Written, Verbal, Degree and Tail. With this file you can write up to 5 UCAS subject reports at a time. There is a premium version of this file available too which has more comments and enables you to write up to 35 reports at a time. Upgrade to the full version of this resource at https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/easy-ucas-report-writer-premium-11845636.
If you find this useful please leave a positive comment. Any issues at all, please contact me at grahamcolman@colmanweb.co.uk.
Video guide to this resource at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ7yDRU1vxg.
This file has been adapted from the original Easy Report Writer to make writing UCAS reports quick and easy. There are sections for comments including Work Ethic, Teamwork, Written, Verbal, Degree and Tail. With this ‘Premium’ version of this file you can write up to 35 UCAS subject reports at a time.
Please create your own UCAS comments rather than using the example ones here and make sure that your reports conform to format and requirements of your school/organisation.
Once you’ve created your comment banks, this file will save you hours and hours.
If you find this useful please leave a positive comment.
An important note… This file uses macros to do all the fancy stuff, but macros don’t work on Macs so you’ll need to run this file on a windows computer. It’s an Apple thing and is the same with all macro-based files. Any issues at all, please contact me at grahamcolman@colmanweb.co.uk.
Loads of files here…
MathsTricks.ppt is a collection of some of the best, most engaging, maths questions and ideas that I’ve collected over several years of high school maths teaching. Use as lesson starters, discussion points, presentation/assembly materials or whatever other purpose you desire. Files here include…
MathsTricks.ppt is a version to print, laminate and create a set of A5 playing cards where each card is one ‘trick’, like a magician! Includes both an editable Powerpoint file and a PDF.
MathsTricksICT.ppt is a version of Maths Tricks to display on the whiteboard. This is same as above but with teacher’s notes removed. Includes both an editable Powerpoint file and a PDF.
LinksAndNotes.doc is notes, answers and further links (YouTube videos etc.) for each trick. Includes both an editable Word file and a PDF.
GreatQuestionsInMaths.docx is a small but great collection of interesting maths questions suitable for GCSE higher or A Level students. No answers here I’m afraid but some can be found in the links & notes document for the main Maths Tricks file. Includes both an editable Word file and a PDF.
All of the Summer Fayre documents are a probability task extension of the original question Maths Tricks question. Files here include…
SummerFayre.ppt is a single slide containing the original question
TheSummerFayreAnswerAndNotes.doc explains the maths behind this game including the probability of winning / losing and the probability of the school winning / losing over multiple plays.
TheSummerFayrePrompts.doc is a few starter questions that you could ask students to get them thinking about the maths behind this game.
TheSummerFayreSimulation.xlsx is an Excel file demonstration of the probabilities behind playing this game many times.
A set of some of the most popular and inspiring maths tricks for printing off as A5 size playing cards.
Each trick could provoke a lesson in itself. Files here include notes answers and links for each 'trick'. Here is also a copy of the Maths Tricks cards for displaying on the whiteboard. Various 'levels' of tricks and questions but these are largely suitable for Yr8-Yr12. Tried and tested, and corrected(!), in the classroom many times. Tried and tested many times in the classroom, as talks and as promo events with various age groups many times. This download includes pdf files as well as the orginal powerpoint and word files for easy editing.
This bundle includes the Chain, Product and Quotient rule match-up activities. All with answers. All as pdfs file as well as the original powerpoint files for easy editing. Bonus resource = Chain Rule Practice activity. A well thought out series of questions based on variation theory for students to progress through learning how to use the chain rule.