# Challenge 2 – Communicating Mathematics

Chris Budd [e-mail]

Henrik Rasmussen [e-mail]

Kirsty Bolton [e-mail]

Emily Walsh [e-mail]

Liza Hadley [e-mail] (PhD in policy/epidemiology with the IDP)

Duncan Robertson ([e-mail], [e-mail])

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Here some maths

$$x^2 + y^2 = z^3$$

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| Audience | Aim | Background understanding | Approach |
| -------- | -------- | -------------------------|--------- |
| Teachers | Help and enrich answer to question 'when will I ever use this' . Encourage creativity in maths | Technical knowledge but not up to date in ideas and applications (eg. film). | INSET days, AMSP, direct partnership with universities|
| Policy makers (MPs, civil servants and advisors) | Give rigorous advice (eg. COVID, Climate), lobby | Often arts graduates | Good clear graphical representations, Correct description of uncertainty, Select ctee, PSC, RS scheme, can mathematicians be policy makers|
| Policy makers (CSA, House of Lords) | Provide scientific evidence, help and be helped | Can be highly numerate | Talk to them .. give examples. Structured pathways or knowledge routes may exist e.g. SPI-M/SAGE for Covid; university-based centres for linking science and policy such as CSaP at Cambridge https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/. Make use of gov's 'Areas of Research Interest' to align with their current interests/needs (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/areas-of-research-interest) - regularly updated and a lot of thought goes in to forming these questions.
| Journalists/media (general)| They are our link to the public, Give clear evidence. Show that maths is a creative subject|Can be very limited. Looking for an article people will read and done to a deadline. Based on news event. May focus on a worse case scenario which makes a headline. May mislead |SMC, University press office, Correct description of uncertainty, expand understanding on when it is good to give a good maths story, Give them a good hook! Good human stories (diverse), Try not to get into a fight, give good clear stories, fun maths |
| Journalists/media (science)| Link to the public, Give clear evidence |Numerate/trained to look at the science | Build a relationship, Twitter |
|Primary| Inspire, prevent a bad attitude forming. Offer opportunities to learn about maths outside of the rigid ciriculum. Discuss maths anxiety |Very little. May learn new stuff online eg. Tik Tok | Going into the school, Tik Tok, NRICH, peer to peer (cf. Bath Taps). Showing we are human and making mistakes too. |
| Secondary| Inspire to like maths and be aware of the opportunities. Creativity in maths. Discuss maths anxiety | Narrow perception of what maths can be used for eg. numeracy. Dont appreciate it is important in eg. art. Learn through school but also online eg. Tik Tok| Online eg. YouTube and Tik Tok, maths clubs, Maths inspiration, PLUS, UKMT, (RI) Maths masterclasses (for motivated students), directly going into schools, books. Showing that we are human and make mistakes too|
| Parents | Help to understand what their children are learning and opportunities for them. Motivating theory children 'why are we doing this'| Completely general | Books (eg. Rob Eastaway), YouTube|
| Diverse | Challenge the stereotype!!, Show maths is not just white men. Girls are great at maths!!! Maths is creative| Same as all but may be distorted by the public perception of what mathematicians are | Show maths is done everywhere eg. calculus in India, good role models! |
| General public| Show maths is everywhere and is both relevant and fun. Everyone needs to use maths in some way |Confuse maths and numeracy | Online, Science Fairs, Museums, MWUK and Maths City (Leeds), Science Centres eg. we the curious, Books, public lectures |
| Industry and business| Give clear advice. Show what new ideas are out there | May be high but not necessarily| INI, Study groups, KTN, HIMR, ... |
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## Good examples and why (evidence base)

**Find illustrations of the above**

**Journalism**
- data journalism e.g FT https://www.ft.com/visual-and-data-journalism

- modelling e.g. https://fullfact.org/health/scientific-modelling-covid/

**Policy Makers**
- publication of mathematical models and SPI-M minutes https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scientific-evidence-supporting-the-government-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19#meeting-minutes-and-supporting-papers
- House of Commons library briefings eg https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/topic/science/sciences/

- Link to trustworthy communication (Group 1)

**Star performers:**

Hannah Fry (popular, policy)
Bobby Seagull (maths anxiety)
David Spiegelhalter (statistics)
Nira Chamberlain (former IMA president, diversity)
Matt Parker (stand up)
Kit Yates (policy)
Rob Eastaway (Maths Inspiration, parents)
Katie Steckles (popular pure)
Tom Crawford (popular applied)
Marcus du Sautoy (popular pure)
Simon Singh (popular, policy)
Steven Strogatz (popular applied)
Colin Wright (popular)
Martin Gardner (popular)
Ian Stewart (popular, high level)
Alex Kontorovich (?)
Numberphile (popular, mainly pure)
Duncan Robertson (policy, OR)
Christina Pagel (policy, OR)
CJB on a good day (popular applied, policy, industrial)
Tadashi Tokieda (maths of toys)

And many others

**Mathematical Magic:** Using magic to show off mathematics

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## Horror stories

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-the-maths-behind-covid-alert-levels-makes-no-sense-138634

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-number-10-should-illustrate-its-covid-alert-formula



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## General examples of good practice ideas

HE-STEM Guide to good practice: http://projects.hestem-sw.org.uk/upload/Amended_guide_to_good_practice-1.pdf

Oxford Mathematical Institute Outreach
https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/outreach

Another good example - Oxford Maths Festival https://mathsfest.web.ox.ac.uk/ and Public Lectures https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/events/public-lectures-events

Leeds Maths City https://mathscity.co.uk/

US National Museum of Mathematics (incl online activities) https://momath.org/

Outreach at the Institut Poincare in Paris (French and English language) https://www.ihp.fr/en/news-science-and-society

### IMA guide to explaining mathematical modelling:

Prepared for the IMA organised meeting of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee: https://ima.org.uk/18264/psc-mathematical-modelling-and-algorithms-webinar/

Mathematical models and algorithms

* are currently used to great effect to drive technology, to make evidenced decisions, and to improve people’s lives

* examples include: energy, medical imaging, Google, mobile phones, COVID-19, weather/climate prediction, insurance, transport, etc etc

* are normally carefully designed, and tested on data.

* need to be used for what they are designed for

* need careful communication when used for decisions affecting the public

* need to be applied with careful judgement, especially when used to make decisions

* all have a level of assumptions and uncertainty. Understanding and quantifying this is an essential part of the modelling process.

* for all the benefits and limitations of mathematical or statistical models outlined, not to employ them is at best educated (and at worst uneducated) guesswork.

Understanding model limitations:

- E.g., with reference to COVID models https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2016822

- E.g., https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/demystifying-modeling-how-quantitative-models-can-and-cant-explain-the-world

Bath **Communicating Mathematics Course** for final year undergraduates: https://www.bath.ac.uk/catalogues/2022-2023/ma/MA30241.html

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### Communication with Industry and Business

* Collaboration between industry and universities is one of the principal routes for knowledge exchange in both directions (see the **Bond Review** above). The collaboration might take the form of joint projects, consultancy, as well as industry sponsorship of doctoral/masters students or industry placement of interns.

* When discussing collaboration with industry partners and effective Knowledge Exchange, it is important to understand and incorporate their objectives. While some firms seek assistance with isolated specific problems, others prefer long-term relationships with leading research groups. The latter might wish to broaden their horizons, improve access to candidates, advertise themselves, or in fact all of these.

* Do not underestimate either the expertise or the domain knowledge of industrial research groups. Especially in fields where secrecy and NDAs are the norm, such as parts of finance, energy, commercial, or the security sector, firms might conduct cutting-edge research for decades, without publishing anything at all.

* To facilitate collaboration between universities and industry, CASE doctoral studentships are available from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grants https://www.ukri.org/councils/epsrc/career-and-skills-development/studentships/industrial-case/

* Many industries hire interns or placement students. Examples include the financial, environmental, energy, insurance, and gaming sectors. Quantitative analytics groups within the larger banks, for instance, actively seek knowledge transfer from universities, relying on interns to explore ideas that seem to have potential but where there is high uncertainty about the outcome.

* (Virtual) Study Groups (such as those organised by V-KEMS) are an effective way to make contacts between universities and industry, to solve problems, and to provide training on all sides https://ima.org.uk/13128/study-groups-with-industry-what-is-the-value/

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Differences/overlap between communication and education.

What should be in the school curriculaum which isnt now

Take advantage on online methods

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## Why should you do it: evidence

- Vorderman report: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/12274/world_class_maths_report_aug11.pdf

- Positive effects on students http://projects.hestem-sw.org.uk/upload/2Finalresults_of_practice.pdf

- Education endowement foundation (improving maths education in 7-14 year olds)
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/maths-ks-2-3

- The Philip Bond Report 'The Era of Mathematics' https://www.eu-maths-in.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EraOfMathematicsReport.pdf

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## Resources

Maths Careers website https://ima.org.uk/support/careers/

UKMT https://www.ukmt.org.uk/

AMSP https://amsp.org.uk/

Training in public engagement: Royal Society Courses https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/public-engagement-for-researchers/public-engagement-independent-researchers/

SMC

Nrich https://nrich.maths.org

Organisations that facilitate collaboration between universities and industry

- Knowledge Transfer Network https://ktn-uk.org/about/
- Newton Gateway to Mathematics https://gateway.newton.ac.uk/
- Isaac Newton Institute https://www.newton.ac.uk/
- ICMS https://www.icms.org.uk/
- The Alan Turing Institute https://www.turing.ac.uk/
- V-KEMS https://www.vkemsuk.org/

Role of maths in UK economy

- The 'Leeds Report' on impact of fluid mechanics https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/178990/

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## Thoughts from/to someone new to science/maths communication for potentially contentious issues

- Social media tension between popularity and objectivity (incentive to get more views from sensationalist content)
- Relationships between scientist and journalists are important (eg on Twitter; reputations for reliability take a long time to build and a short time to lose
- Show your workings. State where you obtain your data/ show your methods. It adds to legitimacy.
- A picture says a thousand words. Visualization is important.
- Read widely from reputable sources. Mis-/dis-information can be an issue and it is imporatant to either avoid amplifying or to actively refute.
- Some media outlets are less interested in the truth and more interested in making news through amplifying disagreements. Be selective with which outlets to engage with.
- Strength of analysis comes from engaging with a diversity of people from other disciplines. Twitter is a good place for this.

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**Questions to consider**

## Q1 How can we encourage and train colleagues to do public engagement

* Should undergraduates be taught communication if so how much
* Examples: UWE small for UGS but has a Science Communication masters
* Opportunities eg. summer camps, UKMT, university outreach
* Look at good examples eg. Hannah Fry, Steven Strogatz etc
* INSET for teachers

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## Q 2 What are we trying to do by communicating

* Entertain
* Inspire and enthuse
* Explaining modelling & algorithms eg. to policy makers
* Understanding and interpreting statistics
* Preventing misinformation (reactive)
* Addressing maths anxiety
* Make things better not worse. **BE CAREFUL**
* Maths is fun!
* Widening participation and diversity in maths

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## Q3 What are the possible audiences and what do each know (and when should we start public engagement)

* Journalists
* Policy makers
* Teachers
* Young people
* General public
* Understanding the level of knowledge

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## Q4 How do we communicate uncertainty and disagreement

* eg. COVID, Climate
* What graphs and plots are useful
* Most useful presentation of results
* Conveying difference between uncertainty and not understanding
* Quantifying uncertainty (UQ)

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## Q5 What are good ways to put across the mathematical message (and what is that message)

* Dont be arrogant.
* Key skills of helping people to understand data and quantitative arguments
* Encourage diversity at all levels (people and message)
* Mathematical applications eg. in Pixar

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## Q6 Barriers and challenges (with examples) and how to overcome them!

* Stereotypes
* Aggressive press reactions
* Nasty feedback
* Time
* Academics respectibility
* Perception of elitism
* Maths anxiety
* Early age of embedding attitudes
* Radio announcer saying 'I hated maths at school'
* Perception of maths as mental arithmetic (and asking that)
* Academically not seen as proper activity
* Lack of resource. Left to a few individuals
* Running hard to stay still
* Initiatives put people off .. cant see themselves there. Applications can put people off.
* Instead show stuff relevant to people
* Funding

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## Primary schools

Studies have noted that children's mathematics career is largely determined by age 11 (Vordermon report), making maths communication prior to this in primary school particularly important.

Teachers generally do not study maths at tertiary level, with only 2% of those taking primary PGCE having degrees in a STEM discipline (Vordermon report). "A consequence of the lack of mathematics background is that many primary school teachers do not have the confidence to evaluate, and at times reject, resources, methods and advice, often from non-statutory bodies, commercial organisations and professional associations."

We found several reports promoting changes to maths education in the UK that have relevance for the delivery of maths communication within Primary Schools.

Ofsted reccomendations for maths education include:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417446/Mathematics_made_to_measure.pdf
* ...the most able pupils in nearly a quarter of primary schools were
insufficiently challenged, often because they were set very similar work to their middle-attaining peers before moving to extension tasks
* Still too little ‘using and applying mathematics’
* Schools should increase the emphasis on problem solving across the mathematics curriculum

And from the Education Endowement Foundation for use of resources:
* "Use stories and problems to help pupils understand mathematics"
* "Use tasks to build conceptual knowledge in tandem with procedural knowledge"

Ideas from best-practice maths education may be useful, for e.g. from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0034654308320292?casa_token=7R7MElJcHc0AAAAA%3A2ZK7nY5GreOQC6VspKH1ukj0C_xp5JkJUbkfVjeSglt026C5ln3dVgdcVeKq9sN__SK9PxjemyQtog:
* Create environment conducive to sharing
* Listen attentively and help guide ideas to solutions in real time

A report by the Fair Education Alliance suggests
"The UK remains one of the least socially mobile economies in the developed world."
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/543e665de4b0fbb2b140b291/t/58aaeac429687f223f0ff369/1487596235907/FEA+Numeracy+Report_FV.pdf This report contains case studies of various primary schools and compares practices between those that are and are not closing attainment gaps, including:

* Raising the profile of maths, with opportunities for maths across subjects purposefully identified
* Providing ‘maths week’ and/or ‘enterprise week’ across the school to develop maths skills and financial literacy

## Parents (primary school)

"Research has shown that this element of home learning makes a huge difference to a child’s education. However, changes in arithmetic methods have left many parents unable to help their children." (Vordermon report)

Amongst primary school parents in England "Findings revealed some specific negative effects of school-centered approaches, and suggested that school-centered approaches may in fact restrict parents’ understanding of how they can support mathematics learning in the home." (Jay et al. 2018).

"Previous research suggests that, while there are high correlations between parental involvement and positive student outcomes, it can be difficult to raise student achievement via parental involvement interventions. We suggest that part of the reason for this, at least in relation to mathematics, is that parents experience considerable difficulties in negotiating school-centered definitions of and approaches to mathematics....As parents became more confident in their own analysis of the mathematics in everyday family life, they developed new strategies for sharing this mathematical thinking and awareness with their children." (Jay et al. 2017)

[Jay 2017] Jay, Tim, Jo Rose, and Ben Simmons. "Finding" Mathematics": Parents Questioning School-Centered Approaches to Involvement in Children's Mathematics Learning." School Community Journal 27.1 (2017): 201-230.

[Jay 2018] Jay, Tim, Jo Rose, and Ben Simmons. "Why is parental involvement in children’s mathematics learning hard? Parental perspectives on their role supporting children’s learning." Sage Open 8.2 (2018): 2158244018775466.

## Diversity

There are persisting issues of representation within mathematics.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies reports on the gender gap in maths (and physics) at A-level.
https://ifs.org.uk/uploads/Presentations/2019.10.30%20-%20Future%20of%20women%20in%20STEM%20-%20Sarah%20Cattan.pdf

General attainment gaps in Maths and English by gender, SEN status, deprivation etc.
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19/2020-21


Recent HESA statistics on the proportion of undergraduate students within the UK suggest that in the 2019/2019 academic year 37% of incoming students in mathematical science degrees were female [STEMstats].

https://www.lms.ac.uk/sites/default/files/LMS-BTL-17Report_0.pdf

Attrition of women in maths has been attributed to various factors including perceived lack of diversity of careers involving maths (Piatek-Jimenez 2015).

BAME groups are also typically poorly represented (https://royalsociety.org/news/2021/03/stem-ethnicity-report/).
"Our reports show that Black people are more likely to drop out of science at all points of the career path. It is time that the whole science community comes together to find out why and put it right. (Sir Adrian Smith)

LGBTQ+ mathematical scientists are more likely to experience barriers in their careers [RSSdiversity].

In the US minority-language groups are underrepresented in mathematical fields [Moschkovitch 2002].

One potential mechanism for improving diversity is ensuring minority groups within mathematics have a sense of belonging. This has been shown to be relevant for maintaining undergraduate women's interest in STEM subjects [Thoman 2014]. In practice this could involve striving to include personal stories from mathematicians with diverse backgrounds when communicating mathematics (as also mentioned by Rachel Thomas).

A recent joint RSS/IMA/LMS response to a diversity in STEM consultation [RSSdiversity] made the following reccomendations:

* Ensure that education in mathematics and statistics represents and reflects the interests of a broad part of society and that all students are encouraged to study mathematics and statistics by: bringing back an AS-Level qualification in maths to encourage more students to ensure that STEM professions remain an attractive area for diverse individuals to go in to by identifying measures to tackle bullying and harassment.
* Develop new educational and training routes to increase participation in data science and AI fields by students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in consultation with relevant industries.
* Develop meaningful regulatory frameworks to ensure that algorithms are not violating people’s rights under the equality act, GDPR, consumer protection law or anti-competition law.
* EPSRC/UKRI should introduce mid-career acceleration grants which are open to individuals who are no longer eligible for the New Investigator Award (NIA) scheme, and who have not recently applied for or held UKRI funding.
* Work with professional societies to choose benchmark professions within STEM in which to track progress. For example, statisticians, data roles, engineering roles, accountancy roles, developer roles

Other inclusivity considerations:

* Brzostek-Pawłowska (2019) [Brzostek-Pawłowska 2019] discuss the use of interactive multimedia solutions to communicate maths to students with visual impairments.

* When undertaking maths communiation in schools, consider the needs of minority-language speakers. This may include ensuring everyone has the relevant common vocabulary, being careful to explain use of terms that may have multiple meanings or different meanings in a mathematical context [see Moschkovich 2002].

* Higher education students with dyslexia at higher risk of maths anxiety [Jordan 2014].

[Thoman 2014] Thoman, Dustin B., et al. "The grass is greener in non-science, technology, engineering, and math classes: Examining the role of competing belonging to undergraduate women’s vulnerability to being pulled away from science." Psychology of Women Quarterly 38.2 (2014): 246-258.

[Moschkovich 2002] Moschkovich, J., A Situated and Sociocultural Perspective on Bilingual Mathematics Learners, Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 4:2-3, 189-212, DOI: https://10.1207/S15327833MTL04023_5

[STEMstats2021] Women in STEM, Percentages of Women in STEM Statistics, January 2021, https://www.stemwomen.com/blog/2021/01/women-in-stem-percentages-of-women-in-stem-statistics

[RSSdiversity] Royal Statistical Society, RSS responds to Diversity in STEM consultation with IMA and LMS, February 2022, https://rss.org.uk/news-publication/news-publications/2022/general-news/rss-responds-to-diversity-in-stem-consultation-wit/

[Brzostek-Pawłowska 2019] Brzostek-Pawłowska, Jolanta. "Multimedia Mathematical Communication in a Diverse Group of Students." Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology (2019).

[Jordan 2014] Jordan, Julie‐Ann, Gary McGladdery, and Kevin Dyer. "Dyslexia in higher education: Implications for maths anxiety, statistics anxiety and psychological well‐being." Dyslexia 20.3 (2014): 225-240.

[Piatek-Jimenez 2015] Piatek-Jimenez, Katrina. "On the persistence and attrition of women in mathematics." Journal of Humanistic Mathematics 5.1 (2015): 3-54.

## Secondary
### Communicating Maths at Secondary Level

Why should we do this?

### 1. Foster Postive Attitudes Towards Maths (ATM)
A survey of teachers by Pearson found the thing they felt would help them the most to inspire students about the power of maths is more positivity about maths in popular culture.
There are a multitude of factors that influence ATM including achievement, gender, age, socio economic status and linguistic background. [2]
#### Achievement
Study by Pepin [1] comparative analysis of secondary pupils’ attitudes towards maths in Norway and England:
• Emphasis on the utilitarian aspect of mathematics, in the sense of using it as a means to qualify for a particular job,

‘You get to learn new skills and it will help you later on in life … because algebra etc. can help you in jobs such as an accountant…’’ (EY7-SO)
‘… I struggle with any work… my dream is to become a police officer and you need to have a GCSE in maths.’’ (EY9-JF)
This was more evident in English pupils’ comments than in Norwegian pupils’ comments. In Norway mathematical studies are compulsory up until the age of 18. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study TIMSS (2011) [3] found 85 per cent 14-15 year old students internationally (belonging to 63 different countries) believe that maths is useful in their daily lives and in securing a good job in the future. The students who valued maths had the highest average achievement, followed by the ones who somewhat valued the subject. The students who did not consider Maths to be important (15% of the sample) were among the lowest achievers. If students understand the significance and application of Maths in their lives, they are inspired to study, practice and learn it [4]
• Approximately half of the pupils, in particular those who seemed to succeed in mathematics (according to their comments), talked about mathematics as a ‘challenging’, ‘interesting’ but ‘hard’ subject to learn. Others characterised it as ‘boring’, ‘non-creative’ and ‘confusing’.
‘… it is boring and it does not allow you to be creative. … ‘ (EY11)
• English pupils perceived the nature of mathematics more rigidly as ‘getting the right answer’, and where little creativity is encouraged.
‘‘With maths, the answer is either right or wrong, whereas with other subjects like English and
History, there are many different answers.’’ (EY11)
‘‘… it is not an interesting subject. There is nothing fun towards this subject and a lot of it just feels like you’re doing the same thing all the time.” (EY11)
“… once you learn how to work out an equation or formula, you keep repeating the same method and there is always one correct answer. …’’ (EY11)

• Pupils wanted to work ‘differently’, in a problem solving way and with more open questions.
“I like problem solving. I think it is fun. I like to think and reflect…” (NY6)
• In both countries’ little practical investigative work was done, but when it was done, pupils enjoyed this aspect, and especially enjoyed the opportunity to work in groups in order to understand the mathematics better.

“It is not as much fun and enjoyable as other subjects … I don’t learn by being shown but I do learn by doing and playing games about different types of things. I also like doing presentations…’’ (EY7)

‘’… As I sit next to my friend I feel more relaxed in a new set and know that she will also help if I ever don’t understand.’’ (EY11)

• Pupils, mainly in England, talked about their attitude towards mathematics being influenced by their family and parents helping them, or the primary school experiences giving them the confidence to have a positive attitude.
“I learnt maths when I was little. My mum learnt me maths … and now I am great at maths.’’ (EY7)
“My dad is excellent at maths and helps me … Also in my primary we did lots of maths…” (EY7)
• It seemed that the assessment system played a crucial role in pupils’ perceptions of what mathematics is and how to become a ‘proficient’ mathematics learner. For example, in both countries, but more in England, pupils practice on examination questions several months before the examination. This means that nearly all curriculum teaching is suspended, and pupils and teachers go over past examination papers-‘teaching to the test’. Examinations appear to define whether a pupil is ‘good at maths’ or not. Research suggests a positive relationship between academic attainment and attitude towards Maths [2].
#### Gender
• Maths is perceived to be a masculine and male dominated field (Ernest, 2004) [5]
• Boys exhibit a high level of self-concept regarding their mathematical abilities and consider themselves more able than girls (Ireson, 2001). [6]

#### Attainment

TIMSS (2019) gender difference in average attainment in mathematics in England not statistically significant in age range 9-14.

PISA study 2018 looking at the attainment of 15 year olds found In England, boys performed significantly better than girls. This was also the case for the OECD average. This year PISA will focus on mathematics.
PISA 2022: Mathematics Framework (oecd.org)

![](Secondary outreach:
-Maths taster days (most targeted at Year 12 but many universities offering taster days for Yr 6-11)
-Women in maths taster days
-Science Festivals: Maths: Elements of Modern Science - Edinburgh Science (everyone-rs2.com)
Bath Taps into Science
-Black Mathematician event (UCL) The first Black Mathematician Month outreach event - Chalkdust (chalkdustmagazine.com)
-Popular Maths lectures Birmingham Popular Maths Lecture - University of Birmingham
-Royal Institution Masterclasses: About Masterclasses | Royal Institution (rigb.org)
-Fun Maths Roadshow FunMathsRoadshow (livmathssoc.org.uk)

Resources:
NRICH - Mathematics Resources for Teachers, Parents and Students to Enrich Learning (maths.org)
Welcome to Plus magazine! | plus.maths.org
Secondary mathematics resource packages | STEM#

Maths Workshops for Secondary Schools - Creative Maths Workshops for KS3 / KS4 (ascreatives.com)
Welcome | Think Maths (think-maths.co.uk)

https://talkingmathsinpublic.uk/

https://www.ams.org/publicoutreach/media-info/communicate-math

https://ima.org.uk/case-studies/mathematics-matters/

https://dothemathsthing.com/

Further information
• DoTheMathsThing.com.
• Visit the Finding Ada website.
• Visit the Festival of the Spoken Nerd.
• Visit the Maths Inspiration website.
• Listen to the Maths Appeal podcast.

https://bookboon.com/blog/2013/03/how-to-communicate-mathematics-in-6-easy-steps/

https://momath.org/matrix-2022-conference/

http://magicmathworks.org/follow-up/maths-communication-links

There has been a fairly steady increase over the last 25 years in the percentage of students taking A level mathematics who are females, from about 30 per cent in the 1980s to about 40 per cent in 2015 (JCQ, 2016b). Perhaps this has something to do with mathematics now having a more prominent exchange value, portrayed as a door opener to many possibilities in life (Taylor, 2014).
However, girls, regardless of mathematics aspirations, were less likely than boys to be encouraged by their families and others within their social circles to study mathematics post-16. [7]

### Current outreach
Many Maths departments at universities are involved in outreach at secondary level, and the activities can be categorised as:

1) Utilitarian initiatives - Courses to help prepare for admission tests such as STEP, MAT, TMUA.
https://amsp.org.uk/students/university-admission-tests/step-mat-tmua

2) Recruitment focused activities-e.g. Maths taster days.

3) Activities to promote maths in general, whether that is to showcase maths as fun or illustrate its impact on society.

These activities are delivered by academic staff,
students (both undergraduate and postgraduate), or outreach officers emplyed specifically for the maths communication skills.

Secondary outreach:
-Maths taster days (most targeted at Year 12 but many universities offering taster days for Yr 6-11)
-Women in maths taster days
-Science Festivals: Maths: Elements of Modern Science - Edinburgh Science (everyone-rs2.com)
Bath Taps into Science
-Black Mathematician event (UCL) The first Black Mathematician Month outreach event - Chalkdust (chalkdustmagazine.com)
-Popular Maths lectures Birmingham Popular Maths Lecture - University of Birmingham
-Royal Institution Masterclasses: About Masterclasses | Royal Institution (rigb.org)
-Fun Maths Roadshow FunMathsRoadshow (livmathssoc.org.uk)

Resources:
NRICH - Mathematics Resources for Teachers, Parents and Students to Enrich Learning (maths.org)
Welcome to Plus magazine! | plus.maths.org
Secondary mathematics resource packages | STEM#

Maths Workshops for Secondary Schools - Creative Maths Workshops for KS3 / KS4 (ascreatives.com)
Welcome | Think Maths (think-maths.co.uk)

https://talkingmathsinpublic.uk/

https://www.ams.org/publicoutreach/media-info/communicate-math

https://ima.org.uk/case-studies/mathematics-matters/

https://dothemathsthing.com/

Further information
• DoTheMathsThing.com.
• Visit the Finding Ada website.
• Visit the Festival of the Spoken Nerd.
• Visit the Maths Inspiration website.
• Listen to the Maths Appeal podcast.

https://bookboon.com/blog/2013/03/how-to-communicate-mathematics-in-6-easy-steps/

https://momath.org/matrix-2022-conference/

http://magicmathworks.org/follow-up/maths-communication-links

[1] Pepin, B. Pupils’ attitudes towards mathematics: a comparative study of Norwegian and English secondary students. ZDM Mathematics Education 43, 535–546 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-011-0314-9
[2] Syyeda, Farhat. Understanding attitudes towards mathematics (ATM) using a multimodal model: an exploratory case study with secondary school children in England. CORERJ: Cambridge Open-Review Educational Research e-Journal www.corerj.educ.cam.ac.uk ISSN 2056-7804 Vol. 3, (2016).
[3] About TIMSS 2011 (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) (bc.edu)
[4] Meyer, M. R., & Koehler, M. S. (1990). Internal influences on gender differences in Mathematics. In E. Fennema & G. C. Leder (Eds), Mathematics and Gender 60–95, New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
[5] Ernest, P. (2004). Images of Mathematics, values and gender. In S. Johnston-Wilder, & B. Allen (Eds.), Mathematics education: Exploring the culture of learning. Routledge.
[6] Ireson, J, Hallam, S. & Plewis, I. (2001). Ability grouping in secondary schools: Effects on pupils’ self-concepts. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(2), 315–326.
[7] Mujtaba, Tamjid and Michael J. Reiss. “Girls in the UK have similar reasons to boys for intending to study mathematics post-16 thanks to the support and encouragement they receive.” London Review of Education 14 (2016): 66-82.
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