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Teaching Mathematics and its Applications Advance Access published online on August 13, 2008
Teaching Mathematics and its Applications, doi:10.1093/teamat/hrn014
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Showing you’re working: a project using former pupils’ experiences to engage current mathematics students

Garrod Musto

Address for correspondence: Garrod Musto, Kingswood School, Lansdown Road, Bath, BA1 5RG, UK. E-mail: gjm{at}kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Submitted March 2008; accepted July 2008

To help students view mathematics in a more favourable light, a number of former pupils were contacted and asked to give details of how they use mathematics in their daily lives. This information was gathered through an online questionnaire or visits to the school to talk to pupils—a booklet of responses was also given to students. Attitudinally pre- and post-testing students suggested that this initiative helped address pupils’ concerns regarding the purpose of classroom mathematics. The diversity of professions also helped dispel many myths about the usefulness of mathematics. Subsequently, the project has proven to be a catalyst for a range of cross-curricular projects and events inspired by the former pupils’ case studies, all of which serve to continue to address the initial aims of the project regarding pupil perception of the subject, in the light of both workplace and everyday life.

Garrod Musto, is Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and is Head of Mathematics at Kingswood School in Bath. He gained a Masters in Philosophy from Exeter University in 2000, examining the effective use of sporting contexts in the mathematics classroom.


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