“Doing mathematics – maelstrom or thermal?”

Maelstroms are whirlpools that can suck you down. Thermals are bubbles of hot air that can carry you to great heights. Both are exciting; and doing mathematics can be like being in either.  Even thinking about doing mathematics often brings into play a rich vortex of intuition, emotion, judgement and logic. We’re going to explore – in what I hope will be a stimulating and entertaining but not mathematically intimidating session - how these interact. You may be surprised by some of what happens; I hope you’ll share and gain some insights which will be directly useful to you as teachers...... and you may even find your inner mathematician.

For about 30 years Joan has

        ·  taught maths, and some science, to adults - at levels ranging from what would now be called pre-entry to A level

        ·  devised and run local, regional and national training events for adult maths teachers and for others interested in becoming more “mathematically active”

        ·  worked on and managed research and development projects related to adult mathematics, and to workplace learning

        ·   written teaching material and short articles for practitioners

Since January 2008 Joan has worked as an independent consultant.  Recent work has included

        ·   acting as senior policy adviser to the NCETM team which was commissioned by DIUS to bring forward ideas to help meet the Leitch numeracy targets

        ·   advising the University of Wales on the development of a Level 5 Numeracy programme

        ·  organising, with the National Science Learning Centre, a conference for adult science teachers

        · advising NIACE on the development of numeracy projects

Her main enjoyment comes from seeing people enjoy mathematics, particularly if this is a new experience for them.

Goldilocks was the little girl in the story who came across three bowls of porridge. One was too hot, one was too cold, and one was just right. Goldilocks chose wisely.

When we make decisions, knowing too much - or too little - can sometimes get in the way. In this workshop, drawing heavily on ideas from Gerd Gigerenzer’s book “Simple Heuristics That Make us Smart”, we will discuss how we make decisions and choices, whether using mathematics helps, and how much knowledge is “just right”. We will also take a speculative look at whether mathematical mistakes can be seen as very good decisions that went slightly off the rails. No “hard” mathematics is involved; I’m aiming to make the workshop accessible to everybody, regardless of level of mathematical skill / knowledge / confidence.

pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) is the UK’s leading finance education organization helping schools to plan and teach financial capability relevant to students’ lives and needs.

The aims of the workshop are to raise awareness of personal finance in the curriculum; explore a definition of ‘financial capability’; examine some of the resources available and the curriculum opportunities which the personal finance topic offers. Workshop participants will be able to register for free, no-strings-attached support from pfeg and will receive a ‘goody folder’ of resources.

Karen has worked within the education sector for 15 years, initially as a primary school teacher. She taught for several years in schools on Merseyside, in North Yorkshire and overseas and then moved into educational consultancy. Before joining pfeg Karen worked for a large educational ICT company, where she developed and delivered educational software and ICT skills training to teachers. As a consultant her projects have included Building Schools for the Future and the South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme.

John worked in several Nottinghamshire schools before moving to north Wales, where he was head of mathematics at Rhyl High School for 12 years. He moved back to England to work as a mathematics consultant in Doncaster and subsequently became Secondary Mathematics Adviser for Lincolnshire. He has a degree in computer science from Manchester University and a masters degree in education from Bangor University.