Number bonds are one of those things that seem to produce unusual passion and concern in young mathematicians and their parents.
The name's Bond, Number Bond (Image:Wikipedia)
Parents and students often ask us if we do number bonds, at Maths-Whizz, as though they are mathematical methods exclusive to the initiated few. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The long summer holidays will soon be upon us. But those endless warm afternoons of childhood may conceal a hidden menace – ’summer learning loss’.
Policy wonks have found that summer learning loss, an established side-effect of long school holidays, is particularly pronounced in some groups:
…children from the poorest backgrounds suffered most with ’summer learning loss’ because they were the least likely to practise reading and writing during the six-week break.
The Education Guardian has reported on plans from think-tank The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) to shorten the long summer holidays. This should interest parents from any wealth bracket – without the right attention even the most expensively educated can suffer.
The GoW came across the Gresham College YouTube channel earlier today, featuring some interesting clips from a lecture by cosmologist and Gresham College Geometry professor, John Barrow, on everyday maths.
The Gresham College is a venerable London institution devoted to providing free lectures and events for the public, in the best of traditions.
The venerable Gresham College
In the clip below, Barrow shows the maths behind bank numbers and what’s known as the ‘Luhn Test’.
View Barrow’s introduction to the lecture, and clips about the mathematical patterns behind everything – post codes, six degrees of separation, mobile phone IMEI numbers and all sorts of other things.
Recent research from Holland lends weight to the (some might suggest) obvious finding that varied media and methods boost learning, especially in maths.
Even if you feel this another example of educational researchers preaching to the choir, it is worth having a look at the ScienceDaily report and the research site itself.
