Category Archives: Uncategorised

Written by Gerry Golding Hello, I’m Gerry Golding, deputy chair of Developing Statistical Thinking (ME626). In this blog I would like to tell you about a new and exciting scholarship project that Andrew Potter and I are about to undertake. … 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 →

Written by Brigitte Stenhouse, PhD student in History of Mathematics at the Open University. The reactions I get when I tell people that my PhD is in History of Maths invariably involve some surprise: history and maths aren’t an obvious … 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 →

Written by Hilary Holmes, Open University Staff Tutor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics. One of the great things about working for the OU is that occasionally we are able to share lots of wonderful mathematical ideas with hundreds … 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 →

This blog post was written by Ann Jehan, an ME627 student who received the 2018 Open University Stanley Collings prize. The Stanley Collings prize is awarded annually by the School of Mathematics and Statistics. The prize is awarded to the … Continue reading →

On Tuesday 8th May we were visited by Lucy Rycroft-Smith, a former OU student, who spoke to the academics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics about her work on the Cambridge Mathematics project, including researching and writing mathematics “Espressos”. In her seminar, she … Continue reading →

Written by OU tutor Nick Constantine. I have been teaching for about 30 years, so it had to happen sooner or later. ‘You taught my Dad’, said the young man a couple of years ago. I looked at him and … Continue reading →

Written by OU student Christine Soerjowidjojo. When I was at school, back in Indonesia, learning mathematics was about memorising formulas and the times tables. However, since beginning my journey at the OU, I have become aware that learning and understanding … Continue reading →