The Irish Mathematical Trust
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This event series is bringing our alumni and volunteers face to face with school children from all social and economical backgrounds for some honest - and occasionally irreverent - storytelling and discussions on some comfortable and some not so comfortable truths about mathematics.
Have you got your students' questions ready?
Through 15-30 min interviews, our alumni and friends try to shed light on how people end up learning mathematics even when faced with difficulties and setbacks, and how they build a mathematics based career. We hope that these talks will encourage good working habits and help students gain resilience and self-confidence, by showing that one doesn’t have to be a “born genius” to become brilliant at mathematics.
Read below to find out how to set up an interview
Message for Students
Do you happen to find maths difficult or boring? Have you felt like you could never become good at it? Have you felt frustrated with formulas? Have you wanted to bury your maths book under a tree… or worse? Don’t worry…you are not alone. Some of the greatest mathematicians have felt like this at times… With our This Could Be You event, you can interview people who have managed to get over their own difficulties with mathematics, and you will find out their funny personal stories, along with tips for your own success. And you will get to do it on your own terms.
Here’s how it works: Your teacher will gather your questions, we send them to one of our IMT alumni and friends: a mathematics student or scholar/ engineer/ entrepreneur will come to talk to you face to face… or answer your questions in a personalized video.
How to set up an event
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Ask your students to write down questions about things they would like to find out from a person who has built/is building a successful career based on mathematical skills. You can prepare your students by first displaying the slides here in your class.
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Collect the questions, whittle them down to 5-6 representative ones, and then fill in the short registration form on this page. Your school location will appear on the adjacent map.
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We will then put you in contact with a speaker who lives nearby, or send you a personalized video with answers to your students' questions.
When to run an event in your school
This could be you is an activity very well suited for Maths Week, but if you missed it, don't worry, there need not be any time constraints - We at IMT believe in celebrating Mathematics all year round! However with year round events, please make sure to allow at least one week from registration to the main in-class event.
What ages is this event suitable for
This event is suitable for all ages.
Some follow-up activities suggestions
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You could try out our Mathematicians in Our Lives lesson to educate and further motivate your students by showing how George Boole and William R. Hamilton's mathematical work more than a century and a half ago has shaped our lives today, and to learn some of the mathematics involved in their discoveries.
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You could use some of the materials from our PUBLIC section of our homepage (for example, the puzzles published on the Silicon Republic site, or the section on Mathematics and Arts) to keep your students inspired. For example, you could make these into a weekly post on the classroom wall or door.
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You could set up a regular event in the form of a Maths Circle (or club) to keep your students enthused about mathematics by exposing them to the more creative side.