Author Archives: Cathy Smith

Rebecca Would is  a year 12 work experience student who has visited the Maths and Stats department of the OU. She interviewed Karen Vines, a senior lecturer in statistics, to find out about her and her work Maths and Stats students at the … Continue reading →

Rebecca Would is a sixth-form work experience student who visited the Maths and Stats department of the OU and supported the School Maths Conference. This is her report. In July the OU ran a maths conference in conjunction with some … Continue reading →

This blog is part of a conversation between Cathy Smith, Ruth Edwards and  Jayne Webster, discussing a ‘mastery approach’ lesson. We have taken some topics from the conversation: setting a context, careful choice of language, different representations, small steps  and reasoning. … Continue reading →

There is a question in a recent Foundation level GCSE paper that asks: How would you go about this question? I can think of three ways. I could set up algebraic expressions for the length and width. I could draw … Continue reading →

In his famous book ‘The Descent of Man’ and as part of a discussion on the sense of beauty Charles Darwin commented: “The eye prefers symmetry or figures with some regular occurrence”. (Darwin, 1887, p. 93). In mathematics the definition … Continue reading →

On January 16th the Mathematics and Statistics department at the Open University hosted a talk by Dr Clare Lee on mathematical resilience. The construct of mathematical resilience can help teachers to support learners of mathematics to develop the resilience to overcome barriers … Continue reading →

This is a time of year when I pay attention to ribbons and wrapping paper. When I saw this  oak leaf ribbon, I had to buy some – just because of its beautiful symmetry. But what kind of symmetry is … Continue reading →

I’m Sue Forsythe, the latest member to join the Mathematics Education team at the Open University. I have worked in Mathematics Education all my career, first as a secondary school teacher of Mathematics and latterly as an Initial Teacher Educator … Continue reading →

Cathy Smith and Charlotte Webb discuss the Open University and Adrian Smith’s Review of post-16 Mathematics Charlotte: Cathy – you have recently joined the Open University team. Welcome. Tell me a bit about your experience and interests in mathematics education. … Continue reading →