一本道

Maths and Stats Outreach Activities

What we offer

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers a wide range of outreach workshops—suitable for primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, and education groups—aimed at promoting the importance and real-world applications of mathematics and statistics. 

Our Outreach Officer delivers these workshops out at schools/colleges and at the University, which are well-suited for STEM, DYW and Maths Week Scotland events. Details of the workshops can be found below. To arrange a workshop for your school/college, please contact our Outreach Officer.

Meet our Outreach Officer

Dr Jon Devlin

Dr Jon Devlin works as a Teaching Fellow and Outreach Officer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of 一本道 and has been delivering mathematics outreach workshops since 2016.

He is responsible for arranging the Department's outreach activities and actively delivers workshops for schools, colleges and education groups, including a week-long timetable of events for Maths Week Scotland.

 

Workshops

We offer a number of workshops at two main levels.

Primary Schools (P5-7)

Secondary Schools (S1-6)

Science Murder Mystery

Infectious Disease Modelling

Network Theory

Network Theory

Coding with Scratch

Cryptography

Mathematical Research

Mathematical Research

 

Workshop Details

Description of workshop: 

Pupils will work through a science murder mystery – mainly consisting of mathematics problems and a simple chemistry experiment – to identify the murderer in a line-up of celebrity suspects. A booklet containing the problems will be provided for the pupils.

Level and class size: P5–7. Maximum of one class at a time (approximately 30 pupils).

Length of workshop: 1.5 hours.

Note: Pupils will need paper and pencils for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide. It is best for the pupils to work in small groups, so it would be good if the space could accommodate this.

Description of workshop: This workshop will give an introduction to Network Theory (the mathematical study of connections), its history, and its applications in the real world. This will be presented through PowerPoint and includes activities that pupils will work through during the presentation.

Level and class size: P5–7. No class size restrictions.

Length of workshop: 1 hour.

Note: The presentation requires the use of PowerPoint and so must be run in a space that includes a screen/projector. Pupils will need paper and pencils or whiteboards for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide.

Description of workshop: Pupils will learn the basics of computer coding by working through a series of interactive problems in Scratch, a website aimed at teaching young children how to code. The website contains other problems for the pupils to work through after the workshop.

Level and class size: P6–7. Maximum of one class at a time (approximately 30 pupils).

Length of workshop: 2 hours.

Note: This workshop requires the pupils to have access to computers and the internet. Pupils can work through the problems either on their own or in pairs, so it would be good if the space could accommodate the required set-up.

Description of workshop: This workshop will introduce pupils to the world of mathematical research by examining some mathematical problems and showcasing research on using mathematics to model cancer cell movement. This will be presented through PowerPoint and includes activities that pupils will work through during the presentation

Level and class size: P5–7. No class size restrictions.

Length of workshop: 1 hour.

Note: The presentation requires the use of PowerPoint and so must be run in a space that includes a screen/projector. Pupils will need paper and pencils or whiteboards for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide.

Description of workshop: This workshop will give an introduction to the concept of mathematical modelling and its applications in tackling the spread of infectious diseases. This will be presented through PowerPoint and includes a practical activity that pupils will work though in groups.

Level and class size: S1–6. Maximum of two classes at a time (approximately 60 pupils).

Length of workshop: One period (approximately 50 minutes).

Note: The presentation requires the use of PowerPoint and so must be run in a space which includes a screen/projector. The activity requires pupils to be arranged into small groups, with a maximum of 10 groups. Pupils will need paper and pencils for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide.

Description of workshop: This workshop will give an introduction to Network Theory (the mathematical study of connections), its history, and its applications in the real world. This will be presented through PowerPoint and includes activities that pupils will work through during the presentation.

Level and class size: S1–6. No class size restrictions.

Length of workshop: One period (approximately 50 minutes).

Note: The presentation requires the use of PowerPoint and so must be run in a space that includes a screen/projector. Pupils will need paper and pencils or whiteboards for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide.

Description of workshop: This workshop will give an introduction to cryptography, its use during World War II, and briefly describe its applications in the modern world. This will be presented through PowerPoint and includes activities that pupils will work through during the presentation.

Level and class size: S1–6. No class size restrictions.

Length of workshop: One period (approximately 50 minutes).

Note: The presentation requires the use of PowerPoint and so must be run in a space that includes a screen/projector. Pupils will need paper and pencils for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide.

Description of workshop: This workshop will introduce pupils to the world of mathematical research by examining some mathematical problems and showcasing research on using mathematics to model cancer cell movement. This will be presented through PowerPoint and includes activities that pupils will work through during the presentation.

Level and class size: S1–6. No class size restrictions.

Length of workshop: One period (approximately 50 minutes).

Note: The presentation requires the use of PowerPoint and so must be run in a space that includes a screen/projector. Pupils will need paper and pencils or whiteboards for this workshop, which we kindly ask you to provide.