The Irish Mathematical Trust
Maths Circles
Maths Circles are lunchtime or after-school maths clubs for late primary (5th/6th Class)
and early secondary (1st/2nd Year) school students. At Maths Circles, students do fun, challenging maths, with a focus on play and creative problem solving in a relaxed atmosphere. If you get involved, you will learn how maths is at the heart of almost everything including origami, sea shells and card tricks. Topics covered in the past include sets, graph theory, tessellation, infinite sequences and series, combinatorics and probability. Over 60 hours of activities for lessons have been developed and are available at the Maths Circles homepage - feel free to look through our lessons to get a feel for what Maths Circles are like.
How do I get involved?
If you want to join a Maths Circle, ask your maths teacher if there is a maths circle in your school. Some schools select students based on class test results but most will take all interested students. If your school does not have a Maths Circle, ask your teacher to visit the IMT TEACHERS page or contact the Maths Circles team (contact@mathscircles.ie) so we can help set one up.
Why get involved?
If you have a love of maths, Maths Circles give
you the chance to dig deeper and enjoy some really interesting puzzles and games, all while having fun and doing hands-on activities. In addition, attendance at Maths Circles is preparation for Maths Enrichment classes, which teaches stimulating maths to 2nd-6th Year secondary school students. By extension, Maths Circles are the first step for some along the journey to the International Maths Olympiad and the European Girls' Maths Olympiad, two of
the world's biggest maths contests.
Where are they run?
Maths Circles can be run
in any primary/secondary school. Currently, Circles have run in more than 60 schools in Ireland; most of them are in the Cork area. We intend to make the scheme fully nationwide, and are always happy to set up a Circle anywhere on request.