Maths Week at Work

Maths Week at Work is a series of videos where Maths graduates explain how they use maths everyday and challenge the public with a puzzle related to their job.

This series consists of five episodes. In each of them a maths graduate explains how maths is used in their job, and then challenge us with a puzzle related to their job. A solution to each puzzle is also presented.

Though the resources were produced for Maths Week, they can be used any time of the year, and over several weeks.

The videos are, in principle, aimed at S1-S4 students, but the puzzles do not require much background knowledge and could be suitable for younger or older students as well.

The document below describes the project and gives some tips on how to use it in the classroom:

If you encounter difficulty playing the embedded videos below, you can access our YouTube playlist here: Maths Week at Work - YouTube 
 

Episode 1: Dr Richard Archibald (Video Game Programmer)

Interview and puzzle:

Solution to the puzzle:

Day 1- tips for teachers (558.52 KB / PDF)

 

Episode 2: Caitlin Stronach (Actuary)

Interview and puzzle:

Solution to the puzzle:

Day 2- tips for teachers (396.99 KB / PDF)

 

Episode 3: Dr Steven O'Hagan (Deputy Director of the UK Mathematics Trust)

Interview and puzzle:

Solution to the puzzle:

Day 3- tips for teachers (553.55 KB / PDF)

 

Episode 4: Tessa Hayman (Transport planner)

Interview and puzzle:

Solution to the puzzle:

Day 4- tips for teachers (745.74 KB / PDF)
Handout Puzzle Day 4 (2.06 MB / PDF)

 

Episode 5: Dr Francesca Iezzi (Coordinator of Maths Outreach at the University of Edinburgh)

Interview and puzzle:

Solution to the puzzle and conclusion:

Day 5- tips for teachers (561.8 KB / PDF)

 

The Maths Week at Work videos were produced by Francesca Iezzi and Aarol films.

Get in touch

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, or you need any extra support, please contact Francesca Iezzi (francesca.iezzi@ed.ac.uk).

Give us your feedback

We would really appreciate if you could let us know how the series worked in your classroom, and we would welcome any suggestions for improvement. Please get in touch to give us your feedback or fill in this survey. This would be precious help when it comes to evaluating this project, looking for funding, and designing similar projects in the future.

 

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