About this day
Welcome to our GCSE Maths in Action day!
The goal of our GCSE Maths in Action day is to help students deepen their understanding of key mathematical concepts, improve their problem-solving skills and most importantly, generate excitement for all things maths! Our experienced speakers will guide your students through a variety of engaging and interactive activities that are designed to enhance learning and leave them wowed.
As part of our GCSE maths day, we also offer an Exam Masterclass for your students. This class is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to excel in their GCSE maths exams. The class is led by experienced examiners who have a deep understanding of the exam format and the types of questions that are likely to be asked.
We look forward to working with you and helping your students achieve their full potential in maths!
Host: Sophie Maclean (Mathematician & Communicator)
“A great selection of speakers and a well-organised event!”
Maths Teacher, March 2023
Programme & speakers
Using a Chessboard for Anything Other Than Chess Ayliean MacDonald, Maths Artist and Content Creator
If you understand the basic rules to chess, I have no doubt at all that you could beat me! But chessboards can be used for so much more (she says to hide the fact she’s awful at chess). We will look at puzzles, solved, unsolved, and unsolvable, which take place on the land of the chessboard.
About Ayliean MacDonald
Ayliean, brimming with nerdiness and creativity, showcases the beauty of Math through art and videos. Catch them on TikTok, Numberphile, hosting weekly Maths Circle livestreams for charity, and serving as the Community Mathematician 2023 for MathsCity Leeds.
Patterns and Predictions Colin Wright, Mathematician and Juggler
Here we talk about about puzzles, patterns, and finish with finding some unexpected patterns in juggling!
About Dr Colin Wright
Colin received his maths doctorate in 1990 from Cambridge University. While at Cambridge he also learned how to fire-breathe, unicycle, juggle and ballroom dance.
Over-analysing Video Games Matthew Scroggs, University College London
Matt will apply some mathematical thinking to Pac-Man and other video games. We will work out the shortest possible route to complete a Pac-Man level, and discover the 2-, 3- and 4-dimensional shapes that video game characters live on.
About Matthew Scroggs
When not working Matthew writes puzzles and articles for Chalkdust Magazine, including the infamous crossnumber, and reads Martin Gardner books.
Maths v Sport Tom Crawford, University of Oxford
How do you take the perfect penalty? What is the limit of human endurance? Where is the best place to attempt a world record? Maths has all of the answers and in this talk Dr Tom Crawford will explain how you can use it to be improve your performance in a range of sports.
About Dr Tom Crawford
Dr. Tom Crawford, a mathematician at the University of Oxford, shares his love for math through tomrocksmaths.com, performing as the ‘Naked Mathematician,’ showcasing favorite equations on Numberphile, and sporting math tattoos (14 and counting).
Mathemusic Sophie Maclean, Mathematician and Communicator
The links between music and maths have been studied for millennia. Even Brian May has a maths degree! Both maths and music possess their own beauty, but together become something quite magical. In this exciting and interactive talk, Sophie explores the connections between the two. Bring your best singing voices!
About Sophie Maclean
Sophie is a Maths Communicator and a member of the team behind Chalkdust Magazine. She has previously worked as a Quantitative Trader, a Software Engineer, and a Maths tutor.