After a long break from large face-to-face events, it was great to have Year 12 and Year 13 students and their teachers from a range of schools across the East of England region back in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge for some higher-level problem solving in January.
The day started with an introduction to the problem-solving mindset and a brief overview of mathematical admissions tests for university, followed by a mini lecture on infinity from the University of Essex professor, Chris Saker. The 60+ students then split into three groups to experience different hands-on workshops, while their teachers learned more about university entrance exams and approaches to problem solving from Chris Savage of the AMSP and Ems Lord, director of NRICH. The day finished with a mixed teacher and student session tacking some of the admissions test problems we had all talked about, and finally a Desmos competition.
About two weeks later, a similar event took place at the University of East Anglia, bringing higher-level problem-solving skills to the students of Norfolk and Suffolk as well as their teachers.
We’re running more of our Problem Solving Conference for Year 12 Students and Teachers on Thursday 31 March 2022 in Southend-on-Sea, Thursday 21 April 2022 in Bedford, and Monday 18 July 2022 in Hertfordshire (please keep an eye on our regional events page for this event). All of the events are suitable for Year 12 AS and A level Mathematics students who’d like to increase their understanding and develop their problem-solving skills.