When the Maths for the Million project started, I was a Y2 teacher in my 4^th year of teaching. I had developed a passion for teaching maths and I am particularly interested in how all children learn maths in different ways. My experience with the project definitely encouraged me to broaden my views of how to approach teaching maths and collaborating with the international partners meant that I was given the opportunity to experience ways that maths was taught in different countries.

My involvement with creating the practitioner based research card required me to reflect on the practice that already existed in my own school and the emphasis on the use of manipulatives to enhance children’s learning. This was not only beneficial to my own professional development but also the professional development of fellow colleagues. Once I had shared our card with the other international partners it also initiated the discussion around the manipulatives and outdoor learning that was already going on in their schools.

As part of the project I was very lucky to have the opportunity to visit many other countries and I believe that only then can you really understand the potential cultural differences, the curriculum and the priorities for education in each country. I particularly remember visiting the school in Hungary and how I was instantly struck by how traditional the setting was. As soon as we entered the classroom we saw the children sat in rows, working through their individual textbooks something that, in the UK, does not often happen anymore. However, it soon became apparent that the project was already having an impact here; certain teachers we saw had had the opportunity to visit Marjon University in Plymouth and experienced varied teaching training which was then reflected in their developing practise. One teacher was using McDonalds vouchers to teach fractions whilst another was using lots of practical resources to teach capacity. After talking to one of the Hungarian teachers, who was a similar age to me, it was fascinating to see and hear how the project was reigniting his passion for teaching and opening his eyes to new ways of teaching maths.

I feel very lucky to have been a part of the Maths for the Million project. It has enabled me to visit lots of different countries all over Europe, learn new things about myself as a teacher and general practise as well as meet new people who I have developed successful working relationships with and with whom I hope to continue working. Thinking a little closer to home, it has also given me the chance to work with and learn from teachers within my own federation who I might not have been lucky enough to work with during regular circumstances.

One of the teachers from our partner school – Ermington, has taken time to reflect on how through the Maths for the Million project they have used robotics to build maths skills in the primary setting. With such raw enthusiasm for technology, who wouldn’t want to harness children’s enthusiasm for coding and computing in a purposeful way.

“I love this!”
The words of a pupil using a robot to complete a circumference-related task.

What teacher wouldn’t feel swelling pride to hear these words used in a lesson, particularly when it comes to maths. This, of course, has been the driving ambition behind Maths for the Million: to positively address maths teaching and learning. To change mindsets, perhaps.

After encountering those magic words through the teaching of robotics in our setting, we looked at how using an interactive, “real-world” application of computing could link with core maths skills. There were many applications that came to mind:

* co-ordinates (make the robot go to a particular location on the grid)
* solve equations (program the robot to arrive at a particular solution to a calculation)
* revolution and direction
* distance measuring
* angles (making the robot turn a measured angle in degrees)

There are so many more ways to explore maths in the curriculum with robots. But then came the real learning (for us as much as the children). As we challenged the pupils to make a robot move as close as possible to 1m distance, we saw Year 6 children use the concept of circumference to calculate distance and therefore rotations needed. This ranged from trial and error to using the abstract to work it out. Because we didn’t put any “solution” to their use of the robot, the pupils themselves came up with the solutions that demonstrated an innate conceptualisation of the circumference of the wheels; though the pupils themselves may not have called this understanding “circumference”, they used the idea of how far one rotation took the robot and scaled appropriately.

As a teacher, this was a revelation in the making – we could see them learning through play, and then we applied the language and concept to their already developed understanding. Learning in the “real world” with something they could control gave the pupils purpose and allowed them to take maths off the page and into reality.

Will robots be a part of our pupils’ future lives? Possibly. But I know that the joy of using them to learn will stay with them (and myself) for a long time to come.

Over the last few months almost all schools and educational settings have struggled to meet the unprecedented demands of having to provide “blended learning” during the ongoing pandemic. Whilst many schools are planning for a full return of pupils at the start of the Autumn Term it is quite probable ,with Covid spikes across Europe, that this mix of on-site and remote education is here for the longer term, with face to face teaching less than guaranteed.

From a project basis it has reiterated to us that digital literacy is so key for pupils, teachers and parents alike.Educational settings across Europe are all putting the final touches to their contingency plans for the new term and support to facilitate blended learning is a top priority.

The Higher Education Policy Institute’s article below discusses a number of the challenges  posed by blended learning and is well worth reflecting on.

In the meantime the project is faced with the challenge of how to potentially manage to hold its last Transnational Project Meeting virtually, if we are unable to hold it in person in Lithuania in October. Necessity is driving us all to become more efficient video conferencers however how do you manage to structure a meeting that would have required two solid days working  to help tie up the end of a project? Sometimes face-face is a necessity and not just a desirable.

Further reading: Online learning: Are we asking the right questions?

As part of our project, all partners involved have been carrying out their own action research within their own schools and settings. As we come towards the end of the project the findings of the action research has been shared at a variety of multiplier events where we have explored what the research has meant with respect to teaching and learning.

Action research topics included:

* The concept of equality and the equal sign (=) in Elementary School
* The use of games-including the Spanish card deck -in the Maths teaching process
* The use of manipulatives to enhance children’s mathematical understanding and problem solving
* How to develop  parental engagement with respect to maths

The research findings will be published as part of our project outputs and will hopefully inspire other schools to carry out their own action research and enable them to reflect on how sometimes the simplest change in practice or focus can make significant differences to the quality of teaching and learning. We held a webinar  on the subject of action research, earlier in the project which provided a great opportunity to schools to engage with this topic.

Watch the below webinar from the M4TM project: How to undertake research in your own setting.

https://vimeo.com/393275309

Please feel free to contact us if you have any specific questions around action research or the project generally.

Today marked a landmark moment in the Maths for the Million project, as partners travelled to support the UK multiplier event. Four highly relevant workshops linked to the project were supported by two very high-quality key-note speaker sessions. The meeting was extremely well attended with teachers with a range of experience, engaging fully in the workshops, and feeding back that they found the day extremely beneficial.

It was really rewarding to see European partners heavily involved in the group sessions, sharing their experiences of the project. The Industry Project workshop showcased how real-life links to maths can be made within schools, with parents actively involved in sharing how maths pervades their working and home lives! The children presenting on their experiences of the Industry project were the stars of the show!

Recordings of the sessions and supporting slides can be found @Maths4TM resources page.

Next, it is onto to Cyprus for the 8th Transnational Project Meeting in February 2020.

It is a real privilege to see , after many months of planning, the M4TM Pupil Exchange in action! Building a European dimension is so crucial in these uncertain times and a week of fun, engagement and learning is well underway. Each country has taken on responsibility for planning a teaching session linked to mathematics and other external provider sessions will have focused on STEM and robotics. Our evening sessions have provided an opportunity to share traditional games and tonight brings the UK’s chance to showcase Beetle Drive alongside our Spanish friends who have a surprise game lined up.

The first 18 months of the M4TM project has flown by and we find ourselves preparing for the next transnational meeting in Budapest. We look forward to sharing outcomes and progress so far, whilst mapping out our forward priorities.