Resources for Mathematics Enrichment for Primary and Secondary Schools

This is a brief survey of some of the many facilities, above and beyond the curriculum, that exist for Maths enrichment. Such resources have grown rapidly since the introduction of the Internet.

1) Books and Magazines

For pupils, there are many books for students on the market, which can be used for Mathematics Enrichment other than school texts. Broadly speaking these fall into three groups. Those marked with a * are for general maths reading; those marked with a # are books that primarily give ideas for workshops but can also be read generally; and those marked with ~ are Olympiad style books with tests.

* "Innumeracy" by John Paulos, Farrar-Straus edition, 2001
* "Life by the Numbers" by Keith Devlin, John Wiley and sons.
* "How Maths works" by Carol Vordeman, Dorling Kindersley Limited.
* "How Puzzling" by Charles Snape and Heather Scott, Cambridge University Press.
* "Maths Curse" by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, Puffin Books.
* "Murderous Maths series" by Kjartan Poskitt, Scholastic.
* "How Long is a Piece of String?" and "Why Do Buses Come in Threes?" by Rob Eastaway, Robson Books.
* "1089 and all that" by David Acheson, Oxford University Press.
* "Does God Play Dice?" by Ian Stewart, Penguin Books.
* "From here to Infinity" by Ian Stewart, Oxford University Press.
* "The Mathematical Maze?" by Ian Stewart, John Wiley and sons.
* "Taking Chances: winning with probability" by J.Haigh, Oxford University Press.
* "The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions", "Martin Gardner's New Mathematical Diversions From Scientific American", "2nd Scientific Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions", "Martin Gardner's Sixth Book of Mathematical Games From Scientific American", "The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix", "The Incredible Dr. Matrix" and "The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions" by Martin Gardner, various publishers.
# "Mathematics Galore" by C.J.Budd and C.J.Sangwin, Oxford University Press.
# "Stretching the Imagination" by M. Sewell, Oxford University Press.
~ "Mathematical Challenge", "More Mathematical Challenges", "Senior Mathematical Challenges" and "Mathematical Puzzling" by A. Gardiner, Cambridge University Press.
~ "Maths Challenge 1", "Maths Challenge 2", "Maths Challenge 3" by A. Gardiner, Oxford University Press.
~ "The Mathematical Olympiad Handbook- An Introduction to Problem Solving" by A.Gardiner, Oxford University Press.

For teachers:
"Mathematics Enrichment" by Anne Joshua (4 books for different ages between 7 and 13).
"Teaching Mathematically Able Children" published by the National Association for Able Children in Education, Melbourne Longman Cheshire.

There is also material produced by BEAM (Be a Mathematician), BECTa (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) and all publishers of Educational material for schools produce Mathematical Enrichment material (e.g Cambridge produce "Thinking Maths" by Anita Straker for KS2, Oxford University Press "Framework Maths Extension Pupils Books" for Key Stage 3). The Institute of Physics produce two enrichment magazines "Mad Maths" for Key Stage 2 pupils and "Crunch" for Key Stage 3 students.

2) CD-Roms

There are many CD-Roms available for primary mathematics pupils of all abilities. The most popular of these include:

  • "I hate love maths", Dorling Kindersley
  • "Aladdin’s Math Quest", Disney Interactive
  • "Math Rabbit", The Learning Company
  • "Zoombinis", Broderbund

    3) Videos

    There is considerable potential for using videos to enhance the learning of Mathematics. The L.M.S. produce their own videos which are recordings of LMS popular lectures, and the "Visions in Maths and Science" series produced by Professor Chris Budd has been widely distributed. The later consists of six videos with accompanying notes covering a range of mathematical enrichment activities (both stand alone and workshops) ranging from "The Christmas Maths and Science Show" aimed at Key Stage one pupils, parents and teachers, to "Chaos Theory", a lecture for 16+.

    4) Masterclasses and Video Conferences

  • The Royal Institution has, since 1980, been co-ordinating and sponsoring secondary mathematics Masterclasses at many different locations in the U.K. These classes are Saturday morning workshops for Key Stage 3 pupils nominated by their schools and there are currently around 60 series of classes. Full details, together with the programmes for each of the regional centres, are given at: http://www.rigb.org.uk/events/programmeformaths_second.html

  • More recently a network of primary Masterclasses has been started up, and this is growing rapidly. A starter pack for anyone interested in setting up such a class is available . Full details are given at: http://www.rigb.org.uk/events/programmeformaths_primary.html

  • A very recent initiative which is also growing rapidly in popularity is the use of video conferencing through the MOTIVATE scheme. This allows a mathematics masterclass to be given simultaneously to many schools. A typical video conference comprises two sessions. In the first a university academic gives an interactive presentation and sets the schools projects to work on. In the second, the schools describe the results of their investigations. Notes for the conferences and the schools’ presentations are kept on the web. Details are given at: http://www.motivate.maths.org.uk

  • There are many other local networks of enrichment activities, for example the APEX workshops extending able year 5 and 6 pupils in Bath and North East Somerset.

    5) Summer Schools and Courses

    There are now many residential courses for gifted and talented young people interested in Mathematics. Notable examples include the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth: http://www.warwick.ac.uk/gifted/courses_mathematics.html and summer schools at many other universities, such as Southampton.

    Courses related to the Maths Olympiad organised by the UKMT and Tony Gardiner see: http://www.ukmt.org.uk

    The mathematics for the Millennium project offers many courses for both pupils and teachers, with details given on: http://nrich.maths.org/courses.html

    6) Web resources

  • There has been an explosion in the provision of mathematics enrichment material on the internet. As a first point of contact is the DFES supported site XCALIBRE at: http://www.xcalibre.ac.uk which offers a wealth of information and resources in all subjects.

  • The NRICH site maintained by the Millennium Mathematics Project provides a large amount of material including the three magazines PRIME, NRICH and PLUS respectively aimed at primary, secondary and 16+ students.

    NRICH~ http://www.nrich.maths.org.uk
    PRIME ~ http://www.nrich.maths.org.uk/prime/index.html
    PLUS ~ http://pass.maths.org/index.html

  • BECTa, an organisation set up to provide exemplification and training materials showing how ICT can be used to support the National Numeracy Strategy and Framework, also provides information about other websites appropriate for able pupils (though these tend to be aimed mainly at younger pupils). To list a few:

    http://www.ambleside.schoolzone.co.uk
    http://www.counton.org
    http://www.mape.org.uk
    http://www.primarygames.co.uk
    http://www.mathsonline.co.uk
    http://microworlds.com/library/math
    http://www.edmark.com
    http://www.logo.com
    http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk

  • By its very nature the INTERNET is international and gives access to mathematics enrichment resources across the world. It is impossible to list all of these, but one I have found very useful is the site maintained by The Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences which includes their magazine "Pi in the Sky" at: http://www.pims.math.ca/education

    7) Lectures and School Visits

  • There is no substitute for seeing a mathematician in the flesh. The LMS has a group of "Holgate Lecturers", who will give high quality lectures on a variety of mathematical subjects at a level suitable for the 15-18 age group. The LMS will pay the honorarium for each lecturer and can help with small grants to cover costs. Further information is given on: http://www.lms.ac.uk/activities/education_com/holgate_general.html

  • The STIMULUS project is a peer assisted learning programme which encourages undergraduate volunteers to offer assistance to schools both as classroom assistants and online via Ask NRICH. Details are given in: http://stimulus.ucam.org

  • The Pupil Researcher Initiative (PRI) of the EPSRC aims to raise the motivation and achievement of young people in science by placing postgraduate students as teaching assistants ("Researchers in Residence") in schools. Most of the activities are in science but there is some mathematics. See: http://www.shu.ac.uk/pri/

  • NOISE (New Opportunities in Science and Engineering) is an EPSRC scheme to identify young professional mathematicians and scientists to act as role models and inspire the next generation of UK science and engineering. This team can be encouraged to visit any school to enthuse the students. See: http://www.noisenet.ws

    8) Competitions

    There are several competitions which aim to stretch the more able. These include:

  • The UKMT, which organises maths competitions across the UK ranging from mass challenges to the selection and training of the UK maths Olympiad team. The challenges are multiple-choice papers with an emphasis on engagement. The next academic year’s challenges are as follows:

    a) Junior Challenge Years 7-8 24.4.2003
    b) Intermediate Challenge Years 9-11 6.2.2003
    c) Senior Challenge Years 12 & 13 12.11.2002

    Following each challenge there are follow-up papers for the top 1000 candidates. Past papers are available from the UKMT and will challenge their, pupils, parents and teachers. See: http://www.ukmt.org.uk

  • Mathématiques sans frontiers is a competition for whole classes, featuring problem solving and teamwork. It aims to build links across Europe and is suitable for 16 to 19 year olds studying maths and a foreign language. See: http://www.hw.ac.uk/msf

    9) Other Resources

    There are many other enrichment resources available -far too many to list. To complete this review I suggest that you order the "Posters for the Underground" available from the Isaac Newton Institute: http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/wmy2kposters/index.html

    Professor C.J.Budd
    23.9.02

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