This page contains details of current outreach and engagement projects that the School of Mathematics is involved with. If you are studying in Edinburgh and would like to get involved, or if you are a school who would like us to come and visit you, then please get in touch!
Edinburgh is a hub for the FunMaths Roadshow, which is a collection of 350 mathematical activities developed over the past ten years at the University of Liverpool. There are different activities for different age groups, and the resources can be used flexibly to cater for a variety of contexts.
In collaboration with SCI-FUN (The Scottish Science and Technology Roadshow) the School aims to build up a collection of inspiring and challenging exhibits to reflect the current research problems that mathematicians are working on. This could be anything from hairy doughnuts to one-sided surfaces to kaleidoscopes. Watch this space for news on what we are building next!
Our outreach staff have experience in running workshops and masterclasses for a range of age groups and in a range of subjects. Past topics have included Cryptography, Knot Theory, Game Theory, Graph Theory and Binary Numbers. We also have groups of postgraduate students each year who attend the training course "Science Communication in Action" and who would love to give a talk about their research to anyone willing to listen!
In collaboration with Heriot Watt and Napier universities, we run a series of masterclasses for S2 pupils in the Lothian region. Each masterclass runs for two and a half hours on a Saturday morning and, over the course of 7 weeks in October and November, aims to cover a wide range of accessible, fun and interesting mathematics. Contact Julia Collins if you would like more information.
If your school has missed the local series of masterclasses and would like just a one-off S2/S3 masterclass, contact Julia Collins to arrange a visit.
In January 2011 a new course started running at the Office for Lifelong Learning entitled "Mathematical Ideas that Shaped the World". This is an introduction to some of the greatest mathematical ideas along with the colourful personalities who invented them and the effect that these ideas have had on the world. It is an exciting mix of maths, history and philosophy, not to be missed! The course is taught by Julia Collins and will run again in the Autumn and Summer terms of the coming 2012/2013 academic year. Further details of dates and times will be posted here and on the course website when they are known.
For anyone who would like to do some mathematics whilst sightseeing along the Royal Mile, we have just the thing for you. A worksheet, developed by John Searl (Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Mathematical Education), is free for downloading right here. (Caveat: some of the activities in the worksheet are now out of date.) We hope in the future to extend this walk to more parts of Edinburgh, to include more fun puzzles and observations, and to link all of this with Google Maps so you can see it on your iPhone. If you have any ideas for mathematically interesting bits of Edinburgh, do let us know!
