Paul Rowlandson

A screen shot of a curling match at the Winter Olympics. The end has finished with two red stones and one yellow stone that appear almost equidistant from the centre of the circle. The referee is trying to determine whether each of the red stones is closer to the centre than the yellow stone. There is a measuring rod attached to the centre of the circle, with a marker set to the inner edge of the yellow stone. The referee will pivot the rod around the centre of the circle to see whether the marker touches each of yhe two red stones.

A screenshot of a maths task. There is a cross on the page with ten points marked around it, each a similar distance from the cross. The question says: Aisha marks a cross on a piece of paper and marks a point exactly 5 units away from it. She asks everyone else to mark a point 5 units away from the cross. a) How could you use a pair of compasses to check whether everyone's point is the correct distance away from the cross? b) Whose point is too close to the cross? c) Whose point is too far from the cross?

Just been catching up with some Winter Olympics curling. It was fun to see how the referees determine close call decisions by using the same method as KS3 students do in this task about constructions on
@oaknational.bsky.social
#mathstoday #mathschat

New! My 193rd gems post.

Ideas, resources and updates for maths teachers. 💎

www.resourceaholic.com/2025/10/5-ma...

Hat tips to follow.

#mathstoday #ukmathschat

Another plug for my latest post 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

#EduSky #MathsChat #iTeachMaths

'We' like the look of that!

MathsWorld – London’s new Museum of Mathematics MathsWorld is an interactive museum in London with innovative hands-on exhibits that explore the beauty, wonder, and everyday relevance of mathematics for visitors of all ages.

Excitingly, Today's the opening day of MathsWorld, the new hands-on maths museum in London. I've really enjoyed visiting MathsCity in Leeds, but they've now got a London location too! Details at mathsworld.com

If that doesn't find us over Christmas, I'll get it myself!

Two children's books: 'Under the Sea 1, 2, 3' by Frané Lessac and 'Pythagorean Theorem for Babies' by Chris Ferrie and Mike Ziniti.

When you're a maths teacher with a baby, your friends know what to buy for them.

Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors This blog post explores how GeoGebra (or other dynamic geometry software) can support the teaching of compass and ruler constructions. In particular, I’ll be reflecting on how my approach to teachi…

New blog post: 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors'

Looks at an approach for teaching compass and ruler constructions by using GeoGebra to support understanding.

wp.me/p9t8DE-r0

#UKMathsChat #Mathsky

A horizontal line with six perpendicular lines. There is a large arc made from placing a compass at the right edge of the horizontal line. There are six arcs of increasing size, made from placing a compass at the left edge of the horizontal line.

Latest blog post: 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors' looks at teaching compass and ruler constructions for undertanding by breaking it down into small steps.

🔗 wp.me/p9t8DE-r0

#EduSky #Mathschat #MathSky

Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors This blog post explores how GeoGebra (or other dynamic geometry software) can support the teaching of compass and ruler constructions. In particular, I’ll be reflecting on how my approach to teachi…

New blog post: 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors'

Looks at an approach for teaching compass and ruler constructions by using GeoGebra to support understanding.

wp.me/p9t8DE-r0

#UKMathsChat #Mathsky

Filling in the Gaps With Histograms This blog posts focuses on the sorts of histograms that students see in GCSE Mathematics: histograms with unequal class intervals and where the heights of the bars represent frequency density.&nbsp…

#MathsToday Teaching histograms to year 11 this week and returned to @drrowlandson.bsky.social’s amazing planning series to start. So much deep thought and insight in every post! 🙌 ponderingplanning.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/f...

Non-specialist maths teachers!
🎥 See how the Non-specialist SKTM Programme could boost your confidence & improve your teaching!

💵 Schools joining the 2025/26 @theeef.bsky.social trial get £500–£1000!
💻 Online cohort available
⏰ Apply by 12 September
bit.ly/4lRxAoW
#Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat

🎞️ They don’t seek the spotlight, but they shape the future of maths every day.

As another academic year ends, we want to celebrate EVERYONE across the 40 Maths Hubs who has worked tirelessly to make the programme a continuing success 👏

#Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat

I made a little training booklet a few years ago, which I used for a couple of CPD sessions about GeoGebra. Feel free to switch out the front page and use.

drive.google.com/file/d/1a6PN...

New post! 'Conferences and Catching Up'.

A write up of the events I've attended in the last couple of weeks and a summary of the current talking points in maths education.

www.resourceaholic.com/2025/07/conf...

#ukmathschat #mathstoday #meiconf2025

Calling all Maths teachers!

What are some of your all-time great tasks for secondary Maths?

Ones that could have their place in any curriculum, one that should be studied in PGCE courses, ones that started whole new genres of tasks...
... or just ones you really like.

(see some of mine below)

Any schools don't have a full maths department for September or have teachers from other subjects teaching maths might find the programme below helpful. 👇🏻

It's fully funded training for non-specialist teachers of maths, supporting them to teach maths confidently and in depth. #ukmathschat

Over the last couple of months I have been watching
- Expertly designed and led PD
- With out-of-field maths teachers 'growing' their identity as mathematician,
- Become even better at teaching students who need maths teachers the most.

So important that these programmes externally evaluated. (1/n)

A diagram with the names of quadrilaterals and arrows showing which are special cases of the others. Red annotations show properties relating to parallel sides.

The same basic diagram, with annotations in purple to show properties relating to equal length sides.

The same basic diagram, with annotations in blue to show properties relating to angles.

Properties of quadrilaterals with Y8. They sort of know this all already but it still always seems like a bit of a slog!

Today we did everything on this hierarchical diagram rather than as a list, which I hope made it seem more logical. #MathsToday

YouTube video by NCETM Boost your confidence teaching maths | Secondary Non-specialist SKTM Programme

With around 1 in 8 KS3 maths lessons being taught by non-specialists, it's vital we support them
📹 Step inside a real Work Group to hear how Maths Hubs are helping non-specialist teachers thrive
#Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTk5...

Inside the Secondary Non-specialist Teachers SKTM Programme A fully-funded CPD opportunity designed to support non-specialist teachers of maths

The @ncetm.bsky.social has a fabulous #SKTMSecondaryNonSpecialistTeacherProgramme for anyone teaching mathematics outside of their specialism. This video featuring @kandmmathshub.bsky.social captures it perfectly. @j9allen.bsky.social @garethshadick.bsky.social www.ncetm.org.uk/news/inside-...

YouTube video by NCETM Boost your confidence teaching maths | Secondary Non-specialist SKTM Programme

Teaching maths without a specialist background? You’re not alone.
🎥 In our new video, teachers explain how the Secondary Non-specialist Teachers SKTM Programme has boosted their classroom confidence (and more!)
#Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat

That's wonderful news! Best of luck!

Last year I made this power point it shows the key calculator buttons on the two Casio’s new and old next to each other. Might be useful in the coming week.

docs.google.com/presentation...

More Y9 trig #MathsToday: we ditched the tables in favour of drawing multipliers directly onto the triangles. This lesson went pretty well! Still just using sin and cos, and today I kept everything in one orientation as well.

We’re celebrating National Numeracy Day in style with the installation of new exhibits in our Code Breaking and Our Chaotic Earth collections!

Be the first to see them this May half term alongside our curve stitching activities!

#NationalNumeracyDay

I hope people find these papers interesting and useful! 🙂 (n/n)

This paper is behind a paywall, so you might not be able to access it without a university account (sorry). But the first paper in this thread (which is open access) summarises the research and discusses its findings. (13/n)

The 'exposition' group was also similar to the others for most measures, however one result suggests that these participants seem more likely to have categorised the images by identifying defining features rather than based on visual impressions. (12/n)

In all measures, no significant difference was found between results for the 'blocking' group and 'interleaving' group. (11/n)