It’s the explanations of how answers were arrived at that I find students struggle the most with so hopefully this sheet helps with that. I have found these resources really encourage discussion in class and some relatively deep mathematical thought.

Five “spiders” with six (I know…) questions on each covering length, capacity and mass. The final two have mixed questions but they start at “12 o’clock” and work clockwise in difficulty… I have also left some specific units required out to allow students to choose and you, as the teacher, to add extra tasks of find as many possible answers etc.

Three sheets on error intervals and bounds (including calculations). There are six questions but ten possible answers to choose from so students can’t guess but can check if their answer is correct.

Based on the daytime gameshow where one question has three options: one correct, one incorrect but correct in a different context, one impossible (wrong). This is designed to test students’ knowledge then their reasoning to find which are the incorrect and impossible answers and why. Topics include: area, angles (parallel lines and polygons), circle theorems, vectors, transformations and more. There are 12 questions…

This is based upon the concept of the gameshow called “Impossible” (I watch daytime TV in the holidays, sadly) where each question has three options: one correct, one partially correct and one impossible. I ask students to find the correct answer and then explain why the other two options are either impossible or only partially correct. This one involves algebra topics like simplifying expressions, factorising, sequences, equations of lines, inequalities, quadratic equations, function notation, rearranging formulae etc. There are twelve questions altogether.

The usual “answer the questions, reveal the punchline” this time involving finding the equation of a normal to to curve.

Find the equation of the tangent to a curve at a given point and reveal the joke (I apologise, I made it up at about 3am). Something different in an A Level class or a challenge in an IGCSE class…

This is designed to be non-calculator and was written with the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate in mind, but could also be used for GCSE. It involves simplifying, expanding brackets and rationalising the denominator. The punchline is revealed upon answering all the questions.

Find where the graphs meet and reveal the punchline (this is essentially simultaneous equations). I like this joke…

There are twelve transformations here, all of which have more than one solution; this asks students to find as many solutions that work, including reflections, translations, rotations and enlargements with negative scale factors. I did this with a class and offered rewards for any solutions I hadn’t listed which seemed to motivate them even more! Solutions are on a separate slide to enable printing.

There are four slides (and a template so you can create your own); there are 3 or 4 digits and students need to achieve certain number properties using add, subtract, multiply or divide and brackets where necessary. Many of the properties can be achieved in multiple ways (I think!) so this should create some discussion and allow for some challenge. I have given an example of a solution for each but there are more so students can demonstrate their thinking.

Another fish joke revealed upon converting some metric measures. Self-marking so useful both in class or online.

Two more fish jokes to be discovered; the first deals with y=mx+c (what is the gradient? what is the y-intecept?) whilst the second could be considered a little more challenging as students have to find equations given two lines but I have done it so a sketch would be possible as long as you can calculate the gradient. Ideal for lockdown lessons or classwork/homework as they mark themselves.

Various calculations involving fractions, decimals and percentages; students need to change an element of each to meet the requirements listed. Many of the answers can be achieved in numerous ways so this should create discussion and challenge. Answer slide that wasn’t complete is now complete…

Two more, one on fractions (simplifying, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing) and one on mixed numbers (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing). The questions, when answered correctly, spell out the punchline to a fish related joke/pun. Good for lessons or online as they are self-marking.

Various questions involving pressure, including converting between different measurements of pressure. The joke is related to fish hence the name of the resource. These are ideal for online lessons, homeworks or in class.

Perform the transformations of the fish to land on the letters and spell out the punchline to a dodgy fish-related joke. This involves reflection, rotation and translation and would bee ideal for a starter/plenary, main task in class or online or as a homework.

This was left over from ages ago and I’ve finally got around to finishing it! Name the inequalities represented on the the graph given the shaded region basically. Answers are on the sheet so that students can just get on unless they are completely stuck.

There are four sheets that each tackle a different skill using functions: substitution, inverse, domain/range, composite. The answers appear on the sheet so that confident students can self-check and not bother the teacher too much, whilst said teacher (presumably you) helps those who require it. These have worked well both in class and during online lessons.

Lionel is pretty good at Maths but won’t show any workings; he therefore loses marks in tests and assessments. Can your classes show Lionel how to achieve full marks?