Science Ireland on The Last Word
Declan Holmes of Science Ireland appeared on The Last Word on Today FM. Discussing Leaving Cert Maths and the number of students taking higher level maths with host Matt Cooper and Jim Power from Engineers Ireland.
Declan suggestiong was to reorganize the structure of the different levels of Maths. If you could make honors maths advanced maths and give extra bonus point for doing this level of maths. Make the current pass maths honors maths so that the 70% that take pass would have some incentive to put effort into maths. Foundation would become pass maths.
This suggestion would solve several issues rewarding the great effort put in to advanced maths and would also show employers which students had maths ability. Also if there were honors points for what is now the current pass maths, student would put more effort in, reducing the high failure rate.
The discussion also focused on teacher ability and Declan stated that teachers need much more in-service training in the application of maths and Project Maths.
Click below to hear a podcast of The Last Word ( file LW170810part1 )
http://www.todayfm.com/Shows/Weekdays/Matt-Cooper/podcasting/LastWordPodcasts.aspx
Good Luck to All in Exams.
We would like to wish all the students sitting the Leaving and Junior Cert exams best of luck. Stay calm and try to take some time to relax between exams.
The Nature of Things – Martin Gardner
The Nature of Things / Martin Gardner from Wagner Brenner on Vimeo.
Remembering the Maths Man – Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010) was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, died yesterday at the age of 95. He wrote the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, and published over 70 books.
He wrote dozens of books about science, math and pseudoscience, including books aimed at children and teens. Among his most famous titles is “The Annotated Alice,” in which he lifted the lid of Lewis Carroll’s classic fantasies “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” to reveal a hidden tapestry of word games and literary references.
Mr. Gardner was largely self-taught: he did not take a single math class after high school. “There is no better way to learn anything than to write about it!” he once said. His lack of expertise may have been partly responsible for his success — he relied on jokes and cultural references instead of academic jargon.
The Nature of Things / Martin Gardner from Wagner Brenner on Vimeo.
From an article the Washington Post
Image from Wikipedia
How Dev was nearly lost to science
The course of Irish history might have looked very different had a job fallen right for an aspiring young mathematician. Éamon de Valera very nearly won a post as professor of mathematics in 1913, something that would have diverted him from his eventual life in politics.
Dev got close to securing the professorship of mathematical physics at University College Cork three years before the Rising. Had he won the post, the course of Irish history would have changed dramatically, says researcher Cáit Ní Shúilleabháin of UCC.
“If he had gotten that job in 1913 he would definitely have continued at the maths,” she believes.
Ní Shúilleabháin has recently completed an intriguing PhD thesis on the mathematical life of de Valera. It shows he was accomplished in the field and had a particular fascination for quaternions, a mathematical discovery made by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton.
De Valera’s interest in mathematics has largely been overlooked in conventional historical treatments, according to Des MacHale, of UCC’s school of mathematical sciences, who co-supervised Ní Shúilleabháin’s research along with UCC historian Gabriel Doherty. “It’s been neglected because people couldn’t cope with the technical details,” he says.
Bonus Points For Maths
ALMOST 200 hi-tech jobs were announced as the Government signalled a major new incentive for students to pursue careers in the IT sector.
New Education and Skills Minister Mary Coughlan has backed a bonus-point system for higher Leaving Certificate maths in a significant U-turn in government policy.
Her announcement came as five leading multinational companies confirmed 175 job vacancies in the technology sector.
And a nanoscience research institute, CRANN, which is based at Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork, separately announced that it is to create 17 new research and development jobs after it was awarded €15.5m in non-Exchequer funding.
The poor uptake in higher-level maths is regarded as a major obstacle to producing enough qualified graduates to develop the ’smart economy’.
Article in Irish Independent (Thursday April 08 2010) By Katherine Donnelly and John Walshe
Read the full article here.
