Report for STEM Professional Development Bursary
FRANZ SCHLINDWEIN
ST PETER’S HS
Development of LASCO Inter-Schools Maths Challenge
In February 2010, I ran an Inter-schools Maths Challenge as a pilot event among 18 post-primary schools. One thousand pupils took part raising £1000 for LASCO – Latin American Street Children Organisation, a Derry based charity providing education and healthcare to the impoverished street children of South America..
As a mathematics teacher I wanted to create an event that would give pupils the opportunity to discuss and debate problem solving strategies, working as a team.
I designed a maths challenge, sent it out to teachers by email on the designated day of the event. Pupils donated £1 each to participate, worked on the quiz through the day and all answer sheets were to be emailed back to me by the end of the school day.
I wanted to develop the event in 2011 and the STEM bursary afforded me enough sub-cover and travel expenses to assist me with this vision. I was able to meet with staff from C2K and receive training on how to manage an event like this on Learning NI. Also to liaise with them in facilitating the 2011 Challenge, opening it out to the primary sector and schools in the South of Ireland. I was able to take time to design the content of the course including information on: background of the event; entry procedure; teacher feedback from previous event; sample questions.
After the event I was also able to visit the four winning schools and present them each with a trophy.
The event proved highly successful with 80 schools and more than five thousand pupils collaborating and competing, using mathematics for a very worthwhile cause, raising £5500 for children less fortunate than themselves.
The comments received from all participating teachers and pupils were very positive, as was the standard of answering. Pupils were motivated and enthused, relishing the chance to debate their problem-solving techniques and strategies and to make a case for their solution to be included in the class answer sheet.
Running this event has been a great opportunity for me to open lines of communication with so many maths teachers in schools from across the entire education spectrum and from all parts of the country. I have been able to listen to their thoughts and opinions on the questions they have been presented with and on how their pupils fared. Hopefully I will be able to put all this information and experience to good use in building a bigger and better Challenge event for next year.
Next year the LASCO Maths Challenge will be open to pupils in KS2, KS3 and KS4. There will be 2 tiers of entry available at each key stage and the competition being spread out over one week as opposed to one day, will ease the burden of having to interfere with schools’ timetables or previously scheduled events.
Franz Schlindwein
Head of Mathematics
St. Peter’s High School
Derry