News

Keen-eared listeners to BBC Radio 4's flagship Today programme will have spotted that the new 'Puzzle for Today' slot features a collaboration with our NRICH project. NRICH's rich, engaging resources are designed to develop mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills.

188 state school students holding conditional offers to study Mathematics at Cambridge joined us in March 2017 for an intensive day of STEP preparation support. STEP is an additional mathematics examination which forms part of conditional offers to applicants for mathematics, and some related degress, at Cambridge and a number of other universities. The STEP exam covers content based on the A-level Maths and Further Maths syllabus, but questions are different in style, and designed to be more like those you meet at university.

Hundreds of visitors of all ages joined volunteer staff and students from the Faculty of Mathematics at the Cambridge Science Festival Maths Public Open Day on Saturday 25 March 2017. Over 70 staff and student volunteers shared the excitement of maths through hands-on activities, games and demonstrations, aimed at all ages. The event, which is co-ordinated on behalf of the Faculty by the MMP, attracted around 400 visitors, mostly families with children, with most staying for several hours to explore everything on offer.

Nesta, the influential independent charity 'innovation foundation', has highlighted NRICH's rich collaborative problem-solving resources in its analysis of key educational trends for 2017. Nesta's 2017 educational predictions identify collaborative problem solving as a key direction for educational development.

We have launched a new online STEP Support programme to help potential university applicants develop their advanced problem-solving skills and prepare for sitting STEP Mathematics examinations. The programme includes online modules for individual additional study and an online discussion forum. The STEP Support resources are designed to help students at schools which cannot offer much preparation for STEP, and are freely available online.

MMP staff and volunteer Cambridge University maths students were joined by hundreds of visitors on Saturday 22 March 2016 for our Hands-On Maths Fair event, part of the 22nd Cambridge Science Festival. The annual Cambridge Science Festival takes place over two weeks in March each year, and is one of the largest public understanding of science festivals in the UK. In 2016 the Festival included more than 350 events, attracting an estimated 60,000 visits in total.

Our annual NRICH and Plus mathematical advent calendars are published on 1st December, and this year we're inviting you to explore your mathematical creativity. Mathematics is a creative subject. It involves spotting patterns, making connections, finding new ways of looking at things and using what you already know in new contexts. Creative mathematicians play around with examples, draw pictures, have the courage to experiment and ask good questions.

When you think of scientific researchers actively investigating how diseases may spread, you probably wouldn't imagine they could still be in the classroom. But we're delighted to have been part of a project giving Year 9 maths students the opportunity to conduct real scientific research in their schools, alongside a team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Cambridge.

We have launched a new collection of free online resources, Wild Maths, aimed at 7 to 16 year olds exploring maths beyond the classroom. Mathematics is a creative subject. It involves spotting patterns, making connections, finding new ways of looking at things and using what you already know in new contexts. Creative mathematicians play around with examples, draw good pictures, have the courage to experiment and ask good questions. All our award-winning activities aim to encourage creative thinking, curiosity, exploration, discussion and discovery.

Even if you missed our Year 12 Mathematics Enrichment Day in June 2015, you can now watch the two plenary talks online. 132 Year 12 students (aged 16-17) from 17 different schools took part in the full-day event on 19 June 2015, which had a special focus on encouraging the development of mathematical thinking. The enrichment day programme included two talks: Dr Vicky Neale explored some fascinating aspects of prime numbers, while Professor Ben Allanach gave an overview of the discovery of the Higgs boson and how current research at the LHC might provide insights into dark matter.