As usual, Maths Feasts took place in early March, where teams of students worked their way through four rounds of questions.
One round consisted of a merry-go-round, with students working on their own set of questions for a few minutes before passing these on to the next person to check or complete any unfinished questions. This continued with less time for each ‘pass’, until everyone in the team had seen all four sets of questions. Finally, the students could discuss any question(s) they had problems with, before handing their answers in to be checked.
In the problem-solving round, teams could work together on six available problems, but they had to decide which four to hand in to be marked!
The relay round didn’t require running shoes! Each team was split into pairs with their own set of questions. Once they had an answer, this was given to the other pair so that they could complete their question… and so on, like handing the baton on in a relay.
The comprehension round on Linear Programming was very popular with both students and teachers, as it gave them a flavour of maths beyond GCSE. Pupils were given an information poster with all they needed to know about Linear Programming, before they were given the task of answering a set of questions.
Feedback that we had from students included:
- “Now I see the point of straight line graphs!”
- “I’m going to show this to my mum, since she’s a florist!”
All of the Maths Feasts were a huge success, with everyone having a mathtastic time!
Apologies to teachers in York as their Maths Feast was cancelled, due to COVID-19 advice.