Case Study: Maths Inspiration shows for schools

Audience group: Sixth Form or Junior College, Upper secondary or High school

Audience interest level: Uninterested, Receptive, Engaged

Topics: general maths, mathematical modelling, problem solving, number, applications

Origins of the Project

Most school subjects have field trips, so why shouldn’t maths be the same? That was our original motivation back in 2004. We were also aware that outside London, there was very little in the way of engaging maths lectures aimed at older teenagers, and the quality was patchy. Our aim was to provide large scale, interactive maths shows with a variety of speakers – to ensure that there was ‘something for everyone’ and to reveal to teenagers that there is far more to maths than just taking exams. The typical size of a Maths Inspiration audience is 500, and over the years we have done shows in over 30 theatres, from Exeter to Canterbury and from Poole to Edinburgh.

Practicalities

Our ‘big idea’ was to hold shows in regular theatres rather than academic institutions. This was to break away from the idea that maths is only done in schools and universities. Our first show was at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester. The speakers were Rob Eastaway, Colin Wright and Helen Joyce (a statistical journalist), and the compere was Claire Ellis, who at the time ran the Enigma project in schools. We promoted that first show by posting flyers to schools and ringing up teachers in the region. Local maths advisors helped to spread the word.

There are significant costs involved in hiring a theatre, managing bookings etc. We decided from the start to charge for seats – partly to cover (some) costs, but also because paying for seats builds commitment, so that schools who book seats turn up. (We’d all had plenty of experience of free “sold out” school events that were half empty.)

We were determined to make the event free for teachers, not least because it is teachers who book the events. We managed to get some sponsorship from PwC to subsidise ticket prices, and in the first year, we charged £5 for student seats.

Ticket prices are now typically £10 + VAT, though all teachers and some student seats are free. In March 2022 we offered all schools the first five student seats free.

The scale of bookings requires professional management. We employ two part-time administrators whose role is to manage bookings, sort invoices and finances, and update the database that we keep. Our other staffing is freelance: we have a network of graphic designers, website developers, printers and presentation trainers that we use as necessary.

We operate on a tight budget, so we don’t have a significant funds for marketing. We maintain a database of schools who have attended in the past, and we also promote our shows at teacher conferences and via Twitter and other social media.

Our priority is doing events in theatres. However during COVID we ran numerous live, interactive online shows on Youtube. Online talks open up the opportunity to use a wider range of speakers for shorter slots, and make the events accessible to a wider range of schools regardless of location. We plan to continue to offer occasional live online shows, though these do not have the same impact as experiencing a talk in-person.

Accessibility

We aim to make our events as accessible as possible. All of our venues are wheelchair accessible, and when schools notify us about audience members with physical impairments, we have always been able to accommodate them (for example, using an on-stage sign language interpreter).

Evaluation

After every show we ask teachers to fill out an evaluation, scoring presenters overall for interest and appropriateness of the content, as well as inviting more general feedback. We’ve used the same scoring scale since we first ran shows, so we are able to monitor trends in the shows’ appeal, and to identify speakers who are deemed to be below par.

We usually rely on teachers to incorporate their students’ views in their feedback. We have found that collecting feedback directly from teenagers is time-consuming and the results are rarely insightful. We also have a panel of about ten teachers from around the country who we use for more detailed feedback and insights about the effectiveness of shows.

More information

Maths Inspiration website: MathsInspiration.com

Twitter account: twitter.com/mathsinspiratn