The Case Study problems are teaching units, each of which supports 3 to 5 lessons on a topic from outside mathematics. They develop thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills and put substance into the Key Concepts and Processes of the new Programme of Study (PoS) for Key Stage 3 – aspects of the National Curriculum that are less familiar to many teachers. Between them, the Case Studies cover most of the PoS. The Case Studies are very different from each other and have been developed by a wide range of developers. Each one is rich in mathematical possibilities and provides pupils and their teachers with interesting and exciting problems on topics that pupils find fun and engaging. The topics range from the real world to pure fantasy. The problems make extensive use of ‘open’ questions, to which there is often no one right answer. most require a number of steps and can be explored at various levels of depth by pupils of differing abilities. Each Case Study contains materials for pupils to use in the classroom as well as teachers’ notes and lesson plans. Most of the Case Studies, but not all of them, require access to some form of ICT. Each Case Study took about 18 months to develop. In addition to fieldwork tests by its developer, each one was subjected to ‘action’ tests in two ‘cold trial’ schools by independent evaluators; the feedback from the trials was used for further development. Over 100 schools were involved in the development of the Case Studies. Choosing a case study The case studies are very diverse - over time it would be good to try them all. To help teachers decide where to start this document provides the following summary information: Examples of mathematical activity provide a few lines that sketch the problem that each case study presents and the mathematics that it involves. Comparison charts summarise the case studies from various perspectives: • Type of problem: The case studies cover six broad types of
The Case Study problems are teaching units, each of which supports 3 to 5 lessons on a topic from outside mathematics. They develop thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills and put substance into the Key Concepts and Processes of the new Programme of Study (PoS) for Key Stage 3 – aspects of the National Curriculum that are less familiar to many teachers. Between them, the Case Studies cover most of the PoS. The Case Studies are very different from each other and have been developed by a wide range of developers. Each one is rich in mathematical possibilities and provides pupils and their teachers with interesting and exciting problems on topics that pupils find fun and engaging. The topics range from the real world to pure fantasy. The problems make extensive use of ‘open’ questions, to which there is often no one right answer. most require a number of steps and can be explored at various levels of depth by pupils of differing abilities. Each Case Study contains materials for pupils to use in the classroom as well as teachers’ notes and lesson plans. Most of the Case Studies, but not all of them, require access to some form of ICT. Each Case Study took about 18 months to develop. In addition to fieldwork tests by its developer, each one was subjected to ‘action’ tests in two ‘cold trial’ schools by independent evaluators; the feedback from the trials was used for further development. Over 100 schools were involved in the development of the Case Studies. Choosing a case study The case studies are very diverse - over time it would be good to try them all. To help teachers decide where to start this document provides the following summary information: Examples of mathematical activity provide a few lines that sketch the problem that each case study presents and the mathematics that it involves. Comparison charts summarise the case studies from various perspectives: • Type of problem: The case studies cover six broad types of