Alan Turing: the new face of the £50 note; father of modern computing; code-breaking genius; posthumous national hero.

Ask a teacher or pupil what they know of Alan Turing and they might answer with one or any of the above. But perhaps less likely would be one of his other great achievements: decoding the chemistry behind a leopard’s spots.

But that might be about to change. Mathematicians from the University of Sheffield have launched The Turing Pattern Project, which aims to teach UK schoolchildren about his influential theory of biology.

Alan Turing and nature’s building blocks

Led in partnership with the Bank of England to celebrate the new £50 note, the project is designed to teach Year 5 and 6 students how Turing used maths to understand patterns in nature.

Turing’s theory, published as ”The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” shortly before he died, hypothesised that the appearance of spots or patterns on animals was due to the presence of two chemicals inside their bodies.

Over time, he suggested, as animals grew in the womb, these chemicals would react to form patterns on the skin now known as Turing patterns.

Turing represented these reactions as complicated equations, which can only be solved with sophisticated computer algorithms.

Using such algorithms, scientists can break his equations down into millions of simple calculations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

These simple calculations help to explain how complex patterns in nature develop, like a chicken’s feathers or a cow’s blotchy skin, as chemicals react with each other.

The power of pupils 

But Natasha Ellison, a PhD researcher at the University of Sheffield who studies Turing patterns, realised that key stage 2 pupils could perform those sums themselves, and learn about biological maths in the process. Thus the Turing Pattern Project was born.

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we send these off to schools, and get a different school doing a different point in time, with the idea that they’re passing on the project’,” she said. “And over a few months we see this pattern form.”

For example, the project’s first lesson focuses on how researchers use maths to produce a biological pattern, like a leopard’s spots, Ellison said: “It’s like if you zoom in on a photograph and it becomes pixelated. Each of the pixels can be represented by a number.

“The black part of the spots might be represented by a high number like 100, and the white part might be represented by a really low number. Then [students] learn about algorithms and changing those numbers with a few calculations.”

In the second lesson, students learn about Turing’s algorithm and get to work producing the “amazing labyrinth” pattern of a giant pufferfish.

Joe Cooper, a maths teacher at Birkdale School in Sheffield, said his students have loved the lessons, which have helped to make maths seem more real and exciting.

“Quite a lot of them had heard of Alan Turing before, through the Enigma machine and history lessons, but they didn’t know much more about him,” Mr Cooper said.

Following the lessons, his class did a project on famous mathematicians, with many of his students choosing to study Turing.

“As well as all the Turing stuff and the maths that goes with it, they loved where it led us in class as well,” he said. He added they also loved the fact that other children all around the country were doing it, and that they could all contribute to the end result.

How it works

Lessons are taught over two hours and offer teachers three options: teaching it themselves through printable worksheets, via Zoom or a computer room, or children can run through the lessons themselves with videos provided by Ellison. The lessons also include additional resources on Turing’s life and LGBT+ issues.

Teachers can sign up for the lessons on the project’s website and type in their students’ answers. As more schools sign up, more of the pattern will be revealed, Ellison said:

“[Schoolchildren are] all doing a few patterns each and then going on to our website - the kids don’t have to register, they just click a button - and they type in the answers. Over the next few months we’re going to reveal what the pattern’s looking like as more and more schools take part.”

Mr Cooper also said his students were attracted by the emphasis on biology and animals:

“They loved the fact that they had seen a giraffe in the zoo once, or seen a zebra on holiday once. So they could relate to it. Loads of them are into science as well, and they loved the fact that it links with science, and links with animals, which ticks loads of boxes for them.”

Boosting engagement 

Ellison, who worked as a secondary school maths teacher before studying for a PhD, said she wanted to help children see maths in a new way with this project:

“By the time I got the kids in Year 7, particularly the girls, they’d already lost any happiness in maths lessons. Primary school is so much about doing things as fast as you can, and there are always a few people who are known as the best mathematicians. I wanted everyone in the class to be able to enjoy maths, so that when they get to secondary school they can see maths being useful,” she said.

After being trialled in Sheffield, the project has now been rolled out nationwide. Ellison said they’re hoping that hundreds of schools will take part.

“We’re aiming it at everyone,” she said. “We want everyone to be involved, not just those at the top of the class.”

“We want to introduce kids to the fact that they can use maths to do a range of things, like understand nature,” she added. “Just knowing that maths is useful, that they can have a job in understanding really cool things.”

No doubt a sentiment Turing would agree with.