Core Maths
Naomi Sani
Date
January 2016
website
http://www.core-maths.org/
email
[email protected]
1
8
49
216
625
1024
729
128
?
Students in crisis over poor maths
and English
Nicola Woolcock Education Correspondent
Last updated at 12:01AM, January 29 2016
Young people in England are the most illiterate in the developed world and are floundering
in maths, according to a global ranking. Hundreds of millions of pounds is wasted on tuition
fees for students who graduate with only a basic grasp of English and maths, an in-depth
analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found. It warned
that many were too low-skilled to earn above the threshold to start repaying their loans. The
OECD report rated English
teenagers aged 16 to 19 the worst of 23
developed nations in literacy and 22nd of 23 in numeracy. In contrast,
pensioners or those close to retirement were among the highest-ranked of their age group.
England had nine million people of working age with low literacy or numeracy skills, it said.
The number of low-skilled people aged 16 to 19 was three times higher than in topperforming countries such as Finland, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands. South Korea came
top of the list for
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/article4677431.ece
Core Maths
‘Core Maths is the single
most important initiative in
post-16 mathematics
education in a generation.’
Professor Paul Glaister, Reading University
Participation in upper secondary mathematics
Any Mathematics
>50%
ENG
20-26%
UCAS tariff for all Core Maths qualifications
Grade
A
B
C
D
E
Points
60
50
40
30
20
This is the same as the current tariff for AS levels
Awarding Organisations
Technical guidance for Core
Maths qualifications
Objectives
1.
2.
3.
Deepen competence in the
selection and use of
mathematical methods and
techniques.
Develop confidence in
representing and analysing
authentic situations
mathematically and in
applying mathematics to
address related questions and
issues.
Build skills in mathematical
thinking, reasoning and
communication.
Technical guidance for Core
Maths qualifications
▪
Published July 2014 after
consultation from April
2014
▪
180 guided learning hours
▪
Up to 80% Higher level
content from the 2015 GCSE
▪
At least 20% level 3 content
▪
Problem solving approaches
▪
Terminal assessment
Core Maths Support Programme CMSP
June 2015:
▪ Sector led initiative with 26 Partner Schools &
Colleges
▪
30 Core Maths Lead Teachers and Tutors
▪
148 Early Adopter Teaching Projects (76
schools, 3 UTC, 14 SFC, 49 FE Colleges, 6
TechBacc)
▪
3000 students
Potential cohort - 250,000 students a year!
Maths is vital in the new… ‘A’ levels
• Psychology
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Geography
• Business Studies
•…
… in fact you could miss out on up
to 20% of the marks if your maths
is not up to scratch!
Teaching through Problem Solving
“A problem occurs when students are
confronted with a task, which is usually given
by the teacher, and there is no prescribed way
of solving the problem. It is generally not a
problem if students can immediately solve it”
Nohda (2000)
Map of Zone 1 Underground Stations
What are we trying to achieve for students
We would like our students to:
▪
Become independent thinkers
▪
Persevere and try again
▪
Work collaboratively and creatively
▪
Gain transferable skills in problem solving
▪ Gain a useful qualification that reflects the above
A few quotes to share
▪
“I can see why we learnt it in GCSE…”
▪
“Easier to complete assignments…”
▪
“Looks good on my UCAS application…”
▪
“I’ll be ready for the maths content in
Engineering next year…”
CMM: Subject Support
Strands and Units in:
Number
Finance
Discrete Maths
Algebra
Graphs
Probability
Statistics
http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/cmmss/
Something for you to try…
The Monty Hall Problem
A problem that baffled and bemused
mathematicians for decades!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhlc7peGlGg
http://www.grand-illusions.com/simulator/montysim.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem
Monty Hall problem
The Monty Hall problem is a brain teaser, in the form of a probability puzzle
The problem continues to attract the attention of cognitive psychologists. The
typical behavior of the majority, i.e., not switching, may be explained by
phenomena known in the psychological literature as: 1) the endowment effect
(Kahneman et al., 1991); people tend to overvalue the winning probability of the
already chosen – already "owned" – door; 2) the status quo bias (Samuelson
and Zeckhauser, 1988); people prefer to stick with the choice of door they have
already made; 3) the errors of omission vs. errors of commission effect
(Gilovich et al., 1995); all else considered equal, people prefer any errors they
are responsible for to have occurred through 'omission' of taking action, rather
than through having taken an explicit action that later becomes known to have
been erroneous. Experimental evidence confirms that these are plausible
explanations which do not depend on probability intuition (Kaivanto et al., 2014;
Morone and Fiore, 2007).
Simple solutions
Behind door 1
Behind door 2
Behind door 3
Car
Goat
Goat
Goat
Car
Goat
Goat
Goat
Car
Result if staying
Wins Car
Wins Goat
Wins Goat
Result if switching
Wins Goat
Wins Car
Wins Car
1
1/3
2
1/3
3
1/3
1
1/3
2
3
1/3
1/3
2/3
1
1/3
2
3
2/3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 … 99 100
1/100
99/100
Core Maths Quiz
Question 1
How many UCAS points is a ‘C’ grade in ‘Core
Maths’ worth?
Question 2
To the nearest 5%, what percentage of Core
Maths content is from the GCSE higher
course?
Question 3
In England what percentage of post-16
students study mathematics beyond GCSE
level?
Question 4
And in Japan (to the nearest 5%)?
Question 5
One of the types of questions used on the Core
Maths course are Fermi estimation problems.
Probably the most well known Fermi estimation
problem is ‘How many piano tuners are there in
Chicago?’
How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?
Question 5 (continued)
5 points for nearest guess
4 points for second nearest etc.
Answers
Question 1
How many UCAS points is a ‘C’ grade in Core
Maths worth?
40 points
Question 2
To the nearest 5%, what percentage of Core
Maths content is from the GCSE higher
course?
80%
Question 3
In England what percentage of post-16
students study mathematics beyond GCSE
level?
13%
Question 4
And in Japan (to the nearest 5%)?
85%
Question 5
One of the types of questions used on the Core
Maths course are Fermi estimation problems.
Probably the most well known Fermi estimation
problem is ‘How many piano tuners are there in
Chicago?’
How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?
Question 5 (continued)
5 points for nearest guess
4 points for second nearest etc.
290 (according to
Wikipedia!)