Last month we ran our first SUMS (Steps to University for Mathematical Students) event in Nottingham, hosting about 50 Year 12 young females from across the East Midlands.
SUMS is a brand-new event for 2023, designed and created by the AMSP. We, as Area Coordinators, very much enjoyed delivering this excellent day. The two main aims of the day were to develop students’ problem-solving skills, and to work in groups on extended mathematical problems. Most of the tasks and activities were explore this! or investigate that! with a large number ofseveral problems to choose from.
There were no prizes for finishing first, no rewards for getting 100% and nothing wrong with being completely stuck – after all, as one of the speakers that day reminded us, ‘being stuck is what makes you a mathematician’! Instead, everyone just focused on exploring mathematical ideas in a fun and interesting engaging (and non-competitive) way. We called this “Slow Maths”.
The girls young females also had the opportunity to talk to current female undergraduates and postgraduates,. They and were able to quiz them on life at university and what it was like to study maths (or another STEM subject) for their degree.
All in all, a great day was had by a fantastic group of mathematically- minded young women.
Look out for a SUMS event near you next year! For more details about SUMS events and web -magazines, click here.