Maths on Trial with Coralie Colmez and Leila Schneps

Overview

This year our Winter Core Maths Festival is comprised of six talks by seven inspirational speakers. We hope that these will enthuse, challenge and enlighten you and offer a springboard to the creation of fantastic contextualised maths lessons.

Who will benefit from attending?

These sessions are designed to appeal to all maths teachers, regardless of how much experience of Core Maths you have had, if any. 

We strongly believe that greater collaboration across departments can be hugely beneficial for students and encourage you to invite your science and social science colleagues to this talk.

Presenters

Coralie Colmez and Dr Leila Schneps

Co-authors of Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom

Content

In the wrong hands, maths can be deadly. Even the simplest numbers can become powerful forces when manipulated by politicians or the media, but in the case of the law your liberty (and even your life) can depend on using the right mathematics.

Our Winter Festival finale is brought to you by Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez, the truly inspiring mother and daughter co-authors of ‘Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom’. Leila is an American mathematician and fiction writer and works at French National Centre for Scientific Research on number theory. Coralie read mathematics at Cambridge University, won the Ryan Prize in Higher Mathematics and is also Director and Co-Founder of the student destination platform, Unifrog.

During this enlightening talk, Coralie will explore cases from the book with an emphasis on how to use them in the classroom. Leila will then delve into some new cases and demonstrate how to think about the world around us with an awareness of error. There will also be an opportunity to find out more about Unifrog and the extensive resources available for maths teachers and students.

Please note that this talk is 1.5 hours in order to provide plenty of time for questions at the end. If you are only able to attend from 4.30pm-5.30pm then you will still get to hear the full Maths on Trial talk.

**Trigger warning** This talk will feature the tragic case of Sally Clark who, in 1999, was wrongly convicted in a court of law of murdering her sons.

Materials and Equipment

During the session, there will be opportunities to ask questions via the chat function on the platform but microphones and webcams are not necessary.

Eligibility

This course is free for teachers from state-funded schools, colleges and academies in England. Teachers based in other parts of the UK or in independent schools and colleges may apply, but places will only be allocated if there is availability.

Cost

This course is free for teachers from state-funded schools, colleges and academies in England. Teachers based in other parts of the UK or in independent schools and colleges may apply, but places will only be allocated if there is availability.