‘Fun Maths’ for pupils at Greenhaw Primary School
A former Derry school teacher who revolutionised the way mathematics is taught when he created his IZAK9 cubes, has brought his latest pilot project to Greenhaw Primary School this week, where pupils enjoyed playing with large-scale resources designed to positively engage them with maths.
The project, facilitated by Franz Schlindwein and Ian Campbell, with the support of Maths Week Ireland and funded by the Irish American Partnership, saw the pair launch their pilot programme in Greenhaw PS, with more schools across the border counties due to participate over the next few weeks.
The local duo brought a set of large-scale maths resources to Greenhaw’s assembly hall on Friday and Monday. Pupils of all ages and their teachers had great fun improving their maths skills, working in teams both collaboratively and in competition.
‘Our pupils loved taking part in this fantastic project over the past few days, helping nurture and develop their skills in maths, communication, and team building, said Mr. Shaun McLaughlin, Principal. ‘These large scale, hands-on activities are brilliant for encouraging maths talk and raising pupils’ attitudes to the subject. Children from Primary 4 to Primary 7 took part in the activities and the feedback is very positive.’
Speaking during the project, facilitator Franz Schlindwein explained how the whole concept came about.
‘I have been working as part of the Maths Week team for many years now and we have been looking for a suitable opportunity to get a project of this type off the ground. The impact of Covid on the teaching and learning of maths has been profound and we need to look at new and innovative ways of allowing pupils to positively re-engage with this subject. We hope the concept of bringing a Maths Fair of large-scale, interactive, fun maths games will be able to help in this regard. If the pilot is a success, we will be able to expand our portfolio of activities and our catchment area of schools, so that all pupils across the country will have an opportunity to experience and enjoy these wonderful games.’
He then goes on to say, ‘The activities we are trialling at present, developed with the help of Conor Quinn, Maths Co-Ordinator at Rosemount Primary and Nursery School, were used for the first time this week at Greenhaw Primary and Nursery School. If the pupil feedback so far is anything to go by, we have made a successful start.’
Franz explained how October last year saw almost 500,000 people, mostly school pupils, participate in Maths Week and how this is now the largest festival of its kind in the world.
The pilot project will now move on to Steelstown PS and Gaelscoil Cholmcille, before heading to Termoncanice PS in Limavady and finally across the border, to Scoil Iosagain in Buncrana.
Any further enquiries about the project, or anyone wishing to get the ‘Maths Fair’ into their school should contact Franz by email or telephone.
franz@izak9.com
07734506580.
