Resourceaholic: 5 Maths Gems #58

21 June 2016

5 Maths Gems #58

This is my 58^th update from the world of Maths EduTwitter. Here I summarise some of the latest ideas and resources for teaching maths.

1. New GCSE Revision Resources

Thanks to @pixi_17 for sharing a fantastic set of revision resources for new GCSE students. This well designed set of 9 - 1 revision booklets for four different grade levels (eg 'Aiming for a Grade 5') has come in handy for my Year 10s this week, as they revise for their upcoming end of year exams.

2. Whack a Prime

I love the Is This Prime? game but some of my students get disheartened by low scores. It's quite a stressful game to play! Slow it down with this alternative 'Whack a Prime' game from @prehmet.

3. Polygons Angles

This new tool from MathsPad is awesome. I've seen similar tools before but this is the best yet. Click 'play' below for a demonstration.

#mathschat #mtbos Take a look at our new free interactive tool for exploring exterior angles https://t.co/lPy5lvOUVf pic.twitter.com/nHrt19Ai56
— James Pearce (@MathsPadJames) 9 June 2016

4. Key Stage 3 Scheme of Work

At this time of year many schools are thinking about their schemes of work for next year. I really like the Year 7 Scheme of Learning from the White Rose Maths Hub. Schools looking to change their approach at Key Stage 3 (less 'spiral', more 'mastery') will find this helpful. There's primary schemes here too.

5. Interesting Exam Questions

Did you particularly like any of the questions in this year's GCSE papers? Share them on Twitter! For example this question was in the Edexcel Linked Pair Methods 2 paper - it will come in handy when teaching/revising recurring decimal proofs in future years.

This circle theorems question from Edexcel Methods 1 was a bit harder than usual - there's lots to do here! Have a go at it.

For A level teachers, this MEI question is really nice - it was sent to me by a student who got stuck on it when revising.

Update
Did you catch my latest posts? One was about my day at researchED Maths and Science and the other was about maths school trips.

On Monday I presented at LIME Oldham, focusing on mathematical methods. My slides are here.

Because I'm an A level teacher, exam period is still in full swing for me. The last exam is S2 next Monday - phew! I'm looking forward to Edexcel's conference in Warwick on 2nd July, I should be far less stressed by then!

I've got a date in mind for #christmaths16 - Thursday 22nd December - please keep it free! You can read about last year's event here. This year it will probably have a slightly different format - less CPD, more enrichment - but I will maintain the 'Christmas party for maths teachers' social element. Watch this space!