Ongoing Maths Events in Ireland
Maths Week is over, but there are still a huge number of ways for you to satisfy your mathematical curiosity and hone your skills going on all around Ireland. We have collected a few of these opportunities here.
1. Maths Eyes
Maths Eyes encourages students and members of the public from any age group to re-examine their environment in order to see the Maths all around us- geometric shapes, algebraic patterns and much more. As part of Maths Week Ireland 2013, we teamed up with the Maths Eyes team at Institute of Technology Tallaght to launch two national competitions. The first of these is the Maths Eyes Poster competition. People from all age groups are invited to enter this competition as often as they want. Entries for this competition close at 5pm Friday November 22nd 2013. Shortlisted entries will be announced at Friday 25th January 2014. Shortlisted entries will be available via the Maths Week Ireland Website (www.mathsweek.ie) & the Maths Eyes website (www.haveyougotmathseyes.com).
The second of the competitions run by the Maths Eyes team is the Real World Geogebra challenge. This competition uses the freely available GeoGebra software (www.geogebra.org) which allows you to alter images with graphical and algebraic input. This competition calls for entrants to take a photograph from their local area, insert it into GeoGebra and use its tools to highlight the mathematics that you see in the image. Closing date and shortlist announcement are the same as above and shortlisted candidates will be announced once again on both sites.
For full competition details, rules and more, please visit http://www.haveyougotmathseyes.com/maths-week-2013-competition/
2. SNAP Maths Fairs
SNAP Maths Fair are Student-centred, Non-competition, All-Inclusive, Problem-based challenges for the whole spectrum of primary level students. Designed and organised by the SNAP Mathematics Foundation (www.mathfair.com)
The first ever Irish SNAP Maths Fairs took place throughout the country during Maths Week Ireland 2013. The biggest of these took place in St Joseph’s National School, Dundalk. For those not yet in the know, SNAP Maths Fairs are a great opportunity for allowing your student to engage freely with maths problems, in a fun and encouraging environment. Students are presented with a maths challenge that they must solve. After solving this challenge they then present the maths problem in a fun, visual way to their peers- not unlike Young Scientists exhibitions, except focusing on fun maths challenges for visitors. Challenges are designed to have a visual component and to allow students to come up with their own unique solution. In St Joseph’s National School, the students presented an array of spooky Halloween themed puzzles adapted to suit all ages.
This initiative is designed to take place throughout the whole year. If you need guidance on running a SNAP Maths Fair for your own school or class, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
3. LASCO Maths Challenge
The Latin American Street Children Organisation is a charitable organisation focused on developing healthcare and education for the homeless Street Children of Latin America. Founded by Franz Schlindwein from Derry/Londonderry in 2010, this organisation runs several Maths Challenges throughout the year, aiming to promote their work as well as the importance and fun of mathematics. The challenges are open to primary (final two years) and post-primary schools all over the island of Ireland. The prizes up for grabs are over £5000 worth of maths and education resources! The next LASCO Maths Challenge is open for entry from Monday 3rd February 2014 and will be open for 2 weeks. Full details of prizes and how to enter are available from www.lascomaths.com