Insights into the Citizen Science Award project ‘MathsConnect’

As part of the Citizen Science Award project ‘MathsConnect’, pupils have looked at which topics are exciting and relevant to their lives and how they can link them to mathematical content. They collect or produce photos themselves that depict these topics and write texts in which they make the connection to mathematical questions. Based on this, teaching materials are developed in a further step in order to incorporate these overarching topics into maths lessons.

Here are some initial examples of such photos with texts: Regarding the picture with the flood, one pupil writes: "I associate the picture with the flood, i.e. natural disasters and climate change. How much more energy does the tractor have to use when it drives through the water compared to a dry road? How much rain must fall in an area for a river to overflow and cause flooding in a certain period of time? How fast does the pump have to pump out the water to relieve the area in 12 hours?

The picture of the Harry Potter puzzle also prompts one pupil to ask mathematical questions: "How many shades of colour does it take? How many puzzle pieces does this picture have? How big is the picture? How many pages are there in the books Hermione is holding? How much does the puzzle cost?

School classes, youth groups, but also families and interested individuals can still take part in this project until the end of July.