Case Study: Think Maths - schools talks and workshops

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

Audience interest level: Uninterested, Receptive, Engaged

Topics: General maths

Origins of the Project

Think Maths was founded by Stand-Up Mathematician Matt Parker in around 2012. A former teacher, Matt developed content to go into schools and deliver engaging mathematical enrichment talks and workshops to school students aged 9-18.

Matt has since recruited other maths communicators to take these sessions into schools themselves, including Zoe Griffiths, Katie Steckles and several other maths postgraduates and researchers. Many of the presenters have used their time with Think Maths as a starting point for careers in maths, outreach or education.

 

The Think Maths talks and workshops were initially designed by Matt, and are now also developed by the other speakers on the delivery team. Inspiration for interesting topics can be taken from popular maths books and YouTube videos. We aim to include tricks, games or other elements of interactivity that demonstrate the topics in question.

Practicalities

In order to facilitate bookings by schools, we built a website and developed materials with more information about what we offer; an admin system was put in place to field enquiries and make bookings, and to ensure the smooth logistical running of delivery.

 

We hired a freelance web developer and graphic designer to build the initial website and develop branding, and the website has a built-in content management system we can use to make updates.

Our sessions need to fit conveniently into a school’s lesson slot. This changes from school to school, so some degree of flexibility is required. It was important to develop sessions with a plan for what material can be added in or removed at the last minute, and our sessions can run from 40 minutes up to an hour as needed. Schools can book up to four one-hour sessions in a day, which can be a mixture of talks and workshops to groups of different sizes.

 

We’re aware that students are different in every school, and our speakers prepare sessions based on information we receive in advance (for example, the attainment level of students) – but equally important is the ability to quickly gauge the audience and make small adaptions during delivery to suit the audience in front of you. Therefore, sessions also had to be developed with this in mind.

For some of the Think Maths sessions (in particular, a session involving a smoke machine) there are hazards beyond normal classroom risk, so risk assessments have to be written and practical actions (for example isolating the smoke alarms) taken by the school, in coordination with us. This information is sent to the school once the choice of sessions is confirmed.

To promote our work, Think Maths has a newsletter, website, Twitter account and Facebook page, and the newsletter is sent out several times a year with details of related events, resources we’ve developed for teachers to use, and ways to book Think Maths speakers (including details of funding schemes they can apply for to cover the cost of a visit).

Largely, schools hear about us because they know of Matt’s work on YouTube, as an author or as a performer in theatre shows. Also, a large proportion of referrals are by word of mouth from other schools who know of our work.

Accessibility

As part of developing our sessions, we’ve incorporated best practice into our slides and visuals – for example, ensuring our choice of font and background colours, and font sizes, are accessible. Our presenters always request a microphone for large audiences, and make sure that everyone can see and hear any demonstrations clearly. Schools can advise us of any specialist accessibility requirements when they book (or on the day, if the adjustments needed are more minor).

Evaluation

We send schools a teacher feedback form after each event. This allows us to gather statistics about how many schools felt the students benefited from the events, and how many schools intend to do follow up with their students based on the event. In that feedback form we also gather qualitative feedback designed to improve our product – schools can list things they thought went well and improvements they would like to see.

The project is on-going so we are constantly learning! Our feedback process (and our conversations with schools at the events) has helped us refine our sessions so they are as engaging and educational for students as possible.

We’ve learnt about potential pitfalls with the administration of bookings, and have tweaked our system in response to that – for example, we send a form for the school to provide the information we need for the booking (group sizes, ages, timings, school address, session titles etc) so the teacher can fill it in, and we can ensure this is all confirmed and communicated to the presenters ahead of the event.

More information

Think Maths website: think-maths.co.uk