MATHS DOES NOT inspire Irish students. Year after year, grades are less than satisfactory. In 2008 nearly 5,000 students failed ordinary or foundation level maths and only 20 per cent took it at higher level.
Is it any wonder, though, when the subject, which is required for so many careers, still feels a million miles from everyday life? Many of us remember looking at a picture of two dice in our textbook and calculating the probability of two numbers showing up more than once. Budget constraints aside, surely it would have made more sense to use real dice. Today, it's a whole new ballgame.
"We're using dice, coins and cards in our probability class," explains 16-year-old Rebecca Evans of Moate Community School, one of the 24 pilot schools in the Project Maths programme. "Two of us roll the dice 50 times each and record our findings. It's great to be working in teams in maths class."
Project Maths aims to make mathematics a more relevant, practical subject for students and, as such, numbers and formulas are applied to real-life situations.
"It's really good so far," says Rebecca. "We're in teams for a lot of the activities, it's not all out of a book, and you get a more practical understanding of formulae because you're able to do it yourself."
Rebecca's fifth-year teacher, Alannah O'Shea, will be introducing Project Maths at junior and senior cycle this year in Moate CS.
"I'm very excited about it," admits O'Shea. "I've already noticed a huge improvement, and we've only just begun the new programme. I can't wait to see what happens with algebra. The activities are about making maths practical and probability lends itself quite easily to practical activities."
The first strand of the roll-out covers Probability and Statistics. Four more strands will follow, including Geometry and Trigonometry, Numbers, Algebra and Functions. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is providing training for teachers in pilot schools to help equip them with the new approach.
"We attended training in October and we'll be going to more for the second strand, Geometry and Trigonometry, in January," says O'Shea. "We also have a supporting regional development officer available to all the pilot schools."
Oisín Daly of fifth year in Moate CS has noticed a significant difference between how he was taught in the junior cycle then and now. "I always enjoyed maths in national school but then it changed in secondary school," he says. "It got a lot harder and a lot more complicated. There's a lot piled in for the Junior Cert.
"So far Project Maths is quite different. It's more practical and there's far less time spent staring at the blackboard. For the junior cert, everything was done on the board and you were simply told how to do maths. Now we're doing it ourselves.
"I really like working in teams with other students to solve problems. It comes to you a lot easier."
A fresh approach to learning may be just what the subject needs. However, bad grades can't all be blamed on how the subject has been taught. "There is a combination of factors at play here," argues O'Shea. "I think there is a big confidence issue. Many students feel they're simply no good at maths. They need to be empowered. I'm optimistic about Project Maths. I think it's a great change which, at the end of the day, is about helping students gain more confidence by making the subject relevant."
A NOVEL ASPECT of the Project Maths statistics programme will not only make the subject more relevant for students but will also bring an international aspect.
"Census at School is an international programme where each school who signs up has access to a broad range of data from schools around the world," explains Bill Lynch, Director of the NCCA. Schools in Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and the UK are all involved; they do surveys in their own schools and students here can compare outcomes of their statistical analysis with those of a similar school abroad. It gives a greater insight into the widespread use of statistics.
"Plus it is a crossing of disciplines which has the potential to show students where maths arises outside of school life. Many people emerging from post-primary school don't understand or appreciate statistics. Yet sources in third level are telling us that science and other subjects are heavily reliant on the discipline. It's an area where understanding really needs to improve."
While students in pilot schools are learning from a new approach, the Project Maths team is also learning as the programme continues.
"We hope to get as much feedback as we can from teachers and students in the pilot," says Lynch. "In the past, for example, maths teachers would tell you that they didn't need computers for teaching. But now that attitude is changing, particularly in the area of geometry where better visual understanding of what's going on could be achieved with the right software. We want to see if teachers come back to us and tell us that computers, or a lack thereof, affects the quality of learning. We want feedback in all areas so that we can know which direction to move in to the future."
For more info check out www.projectmaths.ie For more info on Census at School go to: www.censusatschool.ntu.ac.uk/
Exploring the possibilitiesThe choice is yours
1. A cafe offers starters, main courses and desserts. It has 4 kinds of starters, 6 kinds of main courses and 5 desserts. How many choices is it offering its customers, if each takes a starter, main course and dessert?
How many choices is it offering its customers, if each customer only takes a starter and main course?
2. Someone is buying a jumper and they have 48 choices. Each brand of jumper comes in 4 colours. How many brands do they have to choose from?
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Answers: 1.4x6x5=120 choices, 4x6=24 choices
2.48÷ 4=12 brands
