The Faculty's NRICH mathematics education project is celebrating 25 years of support for schools, teachers, students and parents.
A collaboration between the Mathematics and Education Faculties, NRICH focuses on developing problem-solving, supporting every stage of school education with free online resources for ages 3-19 and their teachers.
"We know from worldwide research that what children need for the future is to be able to solve unfamiliar problems and work together." Dr Ems Lord
Based at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, NRICH is part of the Faculty's award-winning MMP outreach programme. NRICH's materials are shared online, free of charge and without any barriers, internationally, and the site welcomed over 10 million visits from users worldwide in 2020/21.
Alongside the free online resources, the project provides support and professional development training for teachers to help them build lessons around NRICH resources and maximise their impact in the classroom. The NRICH team also work with thousands of students every year through face to face events and webinars.
Problem-solvers for the future
The project has become globally recognised for its 'low-threshold, high-ceiling' approach, enabling the widest possible number of students to benefit. NRICH resources are designed to develop students' problem-solving skills, perseverance, mathematical reasoning, ability to apply knowledge creatively in unfamiliar contexts, and confidence in tackling new challenges.
The impact of NRICH's work is clear. "The children in my class have become far more adventurous and courageous," commented a Tower Hamlets teacher after taking part in an NRICH training programme. "They’re able to solve problems with confidence, they’re flexible, they're thoughtful and objective, and I really feel that it’s promoting the idea of them being a problem solver for the future."
Over the past two years, the team has also reached out to help parents as well as teachers. When the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in 2020, NRICH was ready straight away to step into the gap with 'Maths at Home' ideas to support homeschooling - with the website attracting over a million pageviews a week.
In the film above NRICH Director Dr Ems Lord, maths teacher Mark Dawes and Professor Colm-Cille Caulfield and Professor Julia Gog OBE from the Faculty of Mathematics discuss the importance of NRICH's work - and the difference between learning mathematics to pass an exam and thinking like a mathematician.
Read more in the University's special feature article Counting on Maths: NRICH at 25.
If you would be interested in supporting NRICH's work, you can find out more here.
