the magicmathworks
Magic Mathworks Travelling Circus
Experiencing Mathematics through Sight, Sound, Touch and Movement

Masterclasses in hands-on mathematics

Masterclasses in hands-on mathematics offered by the Magic Mathworks Travelling Circus
Updated: 6.10.17

Topics available

Figurate numbers Year 5/6 Year 8/9
Moiré patterns Year 5/6 Year 8/9
Polyhedra Year 5/6 Year 8/9
Scaling Year 5/6 Year 8/9
Surfaces Year 8/9
Symmetry Year 5/6
The cube’s symmetries Year 8/9
People maths Year 5/6 Year 8/9
Mobility Year 8/9
Soap films Year 5/6 Year 8/9
Mystic rose Year 6/7 Year 9/10
Archimedes’ best ideas Year 8/9
Experiments in projective geometry Year 8/9
Perspective drawing Year 5/6
Finding the one stone Year 9/10

 

Organising a Masterclass

These workshops are designed to occupy 30 children for a whole morning (2 x an hour and a quarter).

Contact Paul Stephenson by email on pstephenson1@me.com, to find out more.

For these workshops we charge only travel and accommodation expenses.

Session planning

Through 20 years on the road with the Circus itself we have found that children most enjoy hands-on tasks where there is a creative dimension. Where possible, the sessions are therefore constructed with a prescriptive and a creative component.

You may be consulting the session notes for several reasons and with different ages of child in mind. Though we suggest a particular age group for the activity, this is only because those are the groups we ourselves have dealt with. The topics and the apparatus serving them can be used over a wide age and ability range. The pencil-and-paper mathematics, generally pitched at KS3-4, is distinguished from the experimental work and may be lifted out wholesale for classroom use – whether following a workshop session or not. In isolation it provides, at the least, meaningful bookwork.

Touring exhibitions

Individual stations covering these and many other topics are to be found in the touring exhibitions described on our website. Indeed, most of the activities which find their way into our workshops are tried out there first. As time goes on, we hope to develop new workshops.

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