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 Tarsia Jigsaw activity on The Rules of Indices using numbers only. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. By making adjustments such as removing answers and making deliberate mistakes, they can be made even more challenging and engaging to the students. To download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below.

This is a “Tarsia: Convince Me” activity on operations with surds including rationalising the denominator and simplifying. Unlike standard Tarsia activities, here you only need to print out the solution (included on the PowerPoint), and students must: 1. Find (at least) 5 incorrectly matched up elements, convince you that each one is incorrect explaining the mistake that has been made, and then decide what the answer should have been 2. Replace the ? with the correct answer 3. Come up with a question to replace ?? that could give the answer. A selection of these questions can then be given to other students to use as a rich, challenging, pupil-created homework. To access all my updated Tarsia jigsaw activities, including the Convince Me series, as well as teacher notes and more, please visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/jigsaw.htm

Separate worksheets show the different forms quadratic graphs can take and how this determines their key graphical features.

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/richtasks.htm

Pupils are faced with a series of questions and answers and they must decide if they are correct or not. highlights some important misconceptions.

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/richtasks.htm

Teaching forming and solving equations using 'i think of a number'.

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/richtasks.htm

A Tarsia activity on four operations with fractions. 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 Midpoints between co-ordinates. 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

This a rich, Arithmagon activity on simplifying expressions / collecting like terms. 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

This is a “Tarsia: Convince Me” activity on Reverse Percentages. Unlike standard Tarsia activities, here you only need to print out the solution (included on the PowerPoint), and students must: 1. Find (at least) 5 incorrectly matched up elements, convince you that each one is incorrect explaining the mistake that has been made, and then decide what the answer should have been 2. Replace the ? with the correct answer 3. Come up with a question to replace ?? that could give the answer. A selection of these questions can then be given to other students to use as a rich, challenging, pupil-created homework. To access all my updated Tarsia jigsaw activities, including the Convince Me series, as well as teacher notes and more, please visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/jigsaw.htm

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/richtasks.htm

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/richtasks.htm

A dice game testing pupils' ability to substitute and to investigate expressions.

“Build an Army” is a fun, strategy game that can be used to consolidate understanding of key mathematical concepts. After students have played the game and described their strategy, there are opportunities for differentiation via various lines of inquiry and probing questions for the students to investigate. Full instructions are provided in the “General Rules” PowerPoint. To find more Build an Army activities, just visit: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/buildanarmy.htm

“Build an Army” is a fun, strategy game that can be used to consolidate understanding of key mathematical concepts. After students have played the game and described their strategy, there are opportunities for differentiation via various lines of inquiry and probing questions for the students to investigate. Full instructions are provided in the “General Rules” PowerPoint. To find more Build an Army activities, just visit: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/buildanarmy.htm

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/

Lots of different varieties of function machines, with options to hide and reveal answers. good intro to sequences.