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Newsletter, Volume 1.1, February 26, 2001

An update on resource development at www.mathsnet.net Thank you for subscribing. MathsNet is a free and independent educational website, produced in its entirety by me, and supported technically by www.AngliaCampus.com. As this is the very first newsletter, here’s a list of major projects developed in the last year. MAJOR RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Geometry at www.mathsnet.net/geometry.html - in particular an online course in geometric construction which caters for all comers from primary school pupils to undergraduates at www.mathsnet.net/campus/construction/ Recommended recreational maths books in the spirit of Martin Gardner at www.mathsnet.net/resource/ AS/A2 background course at www.mathsnet.net/asa2/ Fractions at www.mathsnet.net/fractions/ CURRENT PROJECTS I am working on ideas for the UK National Numeracy Strategy at KS3 and a full modular A-level course to cover the Pure, Statistics and Mechanics modules. Both can be found online at MathsNet. The latter project is a very ambitious one that is taking up all my waking not-teaching not-family hours! Where it will lead I do not know, but I am on the lookout for Java applets that illustrate key concepts, so if you have any to offer, or can recommend any, please contact me. This newsletter will evolve as a direct function of my ability to unravel the reason why I am doing it. In the spirit of Godel,Escher,Bach, that sentence may make more sense if you read it backwards. And finally, to quote the best play on words I’ve heard in a long time from Paul Auster’s book Timbuktu, “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”

Newsletter, Volume 1.2, March 4th 2001

An update on resource development at www.mathsnet.net Thanks for subscribing. MathsNet is a free and independent educational website, produced in its entirety by me, and supported technically by www.AngliaCampus.com. I hope this one gets to you in a clearer format than the last one. CURRENT PROJECTS As a teacher of the new AS/A2 specification to Year 12 mathematics students, I am encountering two main problems: there's not enough time to get through the materials, and the students seem ill-prepared for the demands made on them. We were led to understand that AS was to be easier than A2. It does not feel like that to me, or the rest of my department, who are all very experienced in A Level teaching. Surely very few students would have been ready to take the module exam this last January, although apparently it was more feasible in other subject areas. Is this true where you are? Summary of responses Last year I produced a first attempt at an online course to help with background knowledge: www.mathsnet.net/asa2/ This year I am developing materials to go with the course itself. I am collecting suitable Java applets from the WWW that I can adapt, and I am doing a little writing myself using JavaScript, Cinderella, WebEQ, LiveMath and (big plan for 2001 hopefully) Flash. I have got a long way with the first two modules. P1: www.mathsnet.net/asa2/modules/p1.html P2: www.mathsnet.net/asa2/modules/p2.html Most recently I have been working on S1. S1: www.mathsnet.net/asa2/modules/s1.html Feedback and contributions are most welcome, particularly on the topics Probability and Discrete random variables.

Newsletter, Volume 1.3, March 25, 2001

An update on resource development at www.mathsnet.net Thank you for subscribing. MathsNet is a free and independent educational website, produced in its entirety by me, and supported technically by www.AngliaCampus.com. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The previous newsletter contained some remarks about the difficulties presented by the new AS/A2 specifications for Year 12. This generated a number of detailed replies from teachers who felt similarly concerned. The difficulty level does not seem to be right and there is insufficient time. The level of future drop-out rate is of concern too. How many potential Year 12 students will sign up of AS/A2 maths this coming September? Any? I am wondering about where to go next with this issue. Any suggestions? See a summary of the replies at www.mathsnet.net/mec/newsletter/asa2.html. Please send in your comments. I hope those people whose remarks have been quoted are happy with this. If not, let me know and I'll remove them. There is now an archive of these newsletters at www.mathsnet.net/mec/newsletter/. CURRENT PROJECTS Work on the AS/A2 material continues at www.mathsnet.net/asa2/modules/. I have recently become aware of a Java-based interactive geometry program, called C.a.R., that can be used in its entirety online. See it at www.mathsnet.net/dynamic/car/index.html. I plan to write some online materials to go with it. Apparently the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) is to be reborn as the National Strategy for Mathematics (NSM), or something similar. Some resources are in development at www.mathsnet.net/nns/

Newsletter, Volume 1.4, April 30, 2001

An update on resource development at www.mathsnet.net Thank you for subscribing. MathsNet is a free and independent educational website, produced in its entirety by me, and supported technically by www.AngliaCampus.com. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AS/A2 resources continue to grow. The S1 materials include a collection of online probability simulations including the Monty Hall problem and Buffon’s needle. Find it at http://www.mathsnet.net/asa2/s1.html I have been writing some teacher training materials recently, and to complement some exemplars on sequences there is a set of pages called “Sequences with a TI-83” at http://www.mathsnet.net/graphcal/sequences/ CURRENT PROJECTS I am in the process of creating Version 2 of materials on Transformations using interactive geometry. Any comments would be appreciated. Find it at http://www.mathsnet.net/transform/ OTHER SITES I would recommend a look at the recently set up ATW, Association of Teacher’s Websites, at: http://www.byteachers.org.uk/ Also highly recommended is the maths site MathAid at http://www.mathaid.com/ which contains a vast collection of interactive topics.

Newsletter, Volume 1.5, May 23, 2001

An update on resource development at www.mathsnet.net Thank you for subscribing. MathsNet is a free and independent educational website, produced in its entirety by me, and supported technically by www.AngliaCampus.com. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The article, Pressure points, on concerns about AS/A2, including comments written to this newsletter, was published in the TES earlier this month. A copy is at http://www.mathsnet.net/articles/pressure.html. I received only one email in response, from a very concerned AS student. An article in the TES the following Friday extended the concern across all subjects. There are now over 100 topics on each of Pure 1 and Pure 2 at http://www.mathsnet.net/asa2/p1.html and http://www.mathsnet.net/asa2/p2.html. There is a review of a new product, MathsDisc for AS Mathematics, at http://www.mathsnet.net/articles/mathsdisc.html CURRENT PROJECTS Version 2 of materials on Transformations using interactive geometry is now much further developed at http://www.mathsnet.net/transform/ . There are sections on vectors catering for Key Stage 4 Higher, and on advanced transformations for the most able students (and teachers!). OTHER SITES Do look up ATW, Association of Teacher’s Websites, at: http://www.byteachers.org.uk/. It has set up a "teachers virtual school" to promote good subject sites across ther curriculum. I run the virtual mathematics department - see http://www.mathsnet.net/tvs/ Also highly recommended is the primary maths site http://www.teachingtime.co.uk.

Newsletter, Volume 1.6, July 3, 2001

An update on resource development at www.mathsnet.net Thank you for subscribing. MathsNet is a free and independent educational website, produced in its entirety by me, and supported technically by www.AngliaCampus.com. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Apologies about this delayed newsletter. Technical problems, now solved, meant that I could not send out a newsletter, or do anything about it, for over a month. The Year 12 AS/A2 examinations have now taken place and the government seems to have realised that there have been problems and is currently looking into it. I spoke to someone at QCA today who agreed that changes may affect students beginning AS in September 2002. I have added an interactive version of typical examination questions to the material on P1, P2, P3, S1 and S2 at http://www.mathsnet.net/asa2/modules/. These are based mainly on examinations taken this summer but in some cases use specimen questions from the exam boards. Opinions welcome. It may be that students or teachers would like to get a copy of all these AS/A2 materials on disc so they do not need Internet access. Do you think so? Clearly there would be costs involved - how much would you pay for the disc? CURRENT PROJECTS There is now a more developed "Games Centre" at http://www.mathsnet.net/puzzles.html that includes Bridges, Checkers, Connect 4, 15 puzzle, Go, Mastermind, Reversi, Rubik's cube, Solitaire and Tower of Hanoi. These are all Java applets collected from other free sites. Each, I hope, has some intrinisic value in terms of strategic thinking or puzzle solving. I am currently putting together ideas for an online course in equations and graphs aimed at KS3 and KS4. Any ideas or suggestions? I am also interested in trying to come up with an answer to the question "Why teach algebra?" What life skills do pupils learn from it? Personally I have never been convinced that we can justify trigonometry on the grounds that builders use the 3-4-5 triangle when constructing houses. So I am looking for REAL justifications for teaching algebra that teachers will readily accept. This is not meant to imply anything negative. I am convinced that algebra should be taught in schools. I just want to get the reasons sorted out. OTHER SITES As mentioned in the previous newsletter, do look up ATW, the Association of Teacher’s Websites, at: http://www.byteachers.org.uk/. It has set up a "teachers virtual school" to promote good subject sites across ther curriculum. I run the virtual mathematics department - see http://www.mathsnet.net/tvs/

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