Launch Competition to win 1 of 25 digital cameras!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            And Don’t forget to remind your Science colleagues too! Get your students interested now and start to build a team ready to enter the Maths and Science Challenge 2012 – STEM Challenge 10!

Out of the blocks - Maths and Science 2012

We think you’ll want to make time for ‘Out of the blocks – Maths and Science series 2012′ coming free to all state-funded schools in the UK in January 2012:

• 15 FREE COPIES of maths Activity Books containing  GCSE curriculum content in highly visual Olympics-related activity pages
• A Launch Competition poster free inside your pack of Activity Books – with 25 digital cameras as prizes
• Maths & Science  Challenge 2012 – STEM Challenge 10. This is the biggie! Enter teams of four to six Y10 students to win serious prizes including London 2012 event tickets! (and cash to support your school’s  STEM Club)

Full details on our new website, so go there now to register for e-alerts and to ensure your department receives its pack of 15 free Maths Activity Books in January.

Remember to register with a school email address, please. And doing so by 1500 on 9 December will enter you into a Prize Draw for:

• One of five £20 Amazon vouchers 

Oh… and do prompt your science teacher colleagues to register as well!

Keep your class on their toes with these AO1 and AO3 problem-solving questions on averages & range, and using formulae:

Not just a pretty face. Click to download and see how the world's most massive rugby player can help with GCSE Maths.

Longman’s AQA GCSE Maths series has, from the start, come with Linear Schemes of Work alongside the Modular SoWs – all free on our website!

Our very popular textbooks are structured around the Modular Units, but when you transfer to AQA’s Linear spec, you’ll find it really easy to adjust your teaching order for Linear.

If you’re already well into using our resources with AQA Linear, do please leave us a comment below!

Supporting Longman’s AQA GCSE Mathematics Student Books and Practice Books for all abilities, we publish a comprehensive Assessment Pack as well, from which the free practice paper below  – for Unit 2 Foundation – is taken:

Exciting for some, dull for others – and a rich source of Maths questions for GCSE classes. 

Download our very own alternative Alternative Vote referendum.  It’s a role play allowing your class to mock up their own referendum, learn about the two different voting systems, and explore the maths behind them.  It’s also a bit of fun and we guarantee it will bring a smile to your students’ faces.

It's about policy not personality... Click to download AV referendum Maths activity.

Here are the Teacher Notes to accompany it…

Click to download Teacher Notes.

The Maths includes percentages, representing data and bias.  The last two topics often perform badly in exams, so don’t lose this opportunity to set your students down the right path!

We’ve also prepared a worksheet and ballot papers for your class. 

Oh, and please tell us how the alternative AV referendum plays out in class?  Which candidate wins under AV?  Which under FPTP?

So while you’re waiting for the street party to warm up, why not have a go at this fun Level 5/6 algebra activity:

Click to download and hurtle that turtle!

And here are the Quick Teacher Notes and the Full Teacher Notes.

Note: No turtles were harmed in the making of these activities!

• Course entry tests
• Chapters tests for the Longman Foundation Sets, Middle Sets and Higher Sets Student Books
• Linear and Modular Practice Papers
• Resit Papers for Linear and Modular

Ahead of the Unit 1 Higher exam next term (on 13 June), here’s a free Practice Paper for your students:

Click to download the paper as a PDF

And here is the Mark Scheme .  Let us know what you think – comment is also free!

Q. If the blog stopped tomorrow, which of these statements would best describe your attitude? (Tick only one)

Well, that was a relief.  No-one ticked the “Happy – all the email updates annoy me” box.  We’ll do our best to keep it that way.  Thank you for your support.

Q. How long did you read the blog before you subscribed to it? (Tick only one)

This result took us by surprise.  We had no idea the decision to subscribe was taken so quickly.

Q. Before you started this survey, who did you think writes and produces the blog? (Tick all that apply)

This response made us smile.  We can say definitively that we are Longman, which is part of Pearson Education.  Either of those would have been correct, so a majority of you were on the right track.  We are not part of AQA and definitely not Nelson Thornes (greatly though we esteem those organisations)!

Q. If we were to cut down the types of activities we were going to provide on the blog to just four, which of the following types would you want to keep? (Tick four only)

Harder to read this slide, so here’s a summary: the most votes went to “GCSE new-style practice questions and papers”.  We hear you – we’ll keep them coming and make sure we offer all the support we can through the Summer exam season. 

Our topical resources came in as next most popular.  Collectively, there were 42 votes for our topical lesson plans and activities relating to:

• “…major sporting events” – for example, our World Cup posters last year – 16 votes
• “…major non-sporting events”, for example our General Election activity last year – 15 votes 
• “…annual festivals, e.g. Christmas, Halloween, Bonfire Night”, for example our Sherlock Holmes competition last Autumn, episodes of which related to these festivals - 11 votes 

We’ll keep this stuff coming as far as time and tide allow.  For example, to mark the passing of the 500 day milestone and the availability of tickets for sale, we’ll shortly be publishing an Olympics poster.

There was also enthusiasm for the sample pages from our published resources, with 12 votes.  Again, we’ll keep these coming.  The least votes went to our video resources and news updates on AQA specifications and policy.

We asked you to tell us what other kinds of resources you would like to see.  Your answers centred around three types: (i) more exam questions/papers/feedback, (ii) more puzzles, (iii) interactives. 

We hear you.  We’ll do our best.

Q. What are your other sources of topical resources for use in school? (Tick all that apply)

Space doesn’t allow for all the questions, and we promised to keep all individual responses confidential.  But we do want to say a  big  T H A N K   Y O U  to everyone who took part.  Some of your additional feedback was very encouraging: you made especially kind comments about our Middle sets Student Book, about our Sherlock Holmes competition, and about our other free resources.  

Finally, some of you expressed concern that we might start charging for the content on the blog (we asked a few hypothetical question around this).  Don’t be, because we won’t.

With best wishes,

The Maths Team at Longman