RPL Bowland Maths
Bowland Maths aims to make engaging and relevant case studies to pupils aged 11-14, with a focus on developing thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills.
In these materials, the mathematics and statistics emerge naturally as pupils tackle problems set in a rich mixture of real-life and fantasy situations.
Some of the Statistics and Probability related case studies are:
(P) Speed cameras (e.g., Year 9)
Do speed cameras reduce road casualties – or not? Even the experts do not agree, partly because the random nature of accidents makes it difficult to draw conclusions; this can lead to accidental – or deliberate – misrepresentations. Pupils use the context of media reporting to explore ideas of randomness and probability, to bring them alive and understand them and so help pupils draw conclusions from data.
(L) How risky is life? (e.g., Year 10)
Pupils start from fears and risks they know about and, by comparing them with real- life data, recognise that the fears are often unfounded and that their perceptions of the risks tend to be driven by presentations in the media.
(R) Olympics: Are women improving faster than men? (e.g.,Year 8)
One of the features of Olympic Games history is that women have had to win a series of battles to be able to compete. However, since they have been competing, there have been many cases where the women, at least for a while, have been improving faster than men. Is this trend likely to continue until women are out-performing men? One source of relevant data to help model the development of men’s and women’s performances is the winning performance in men’s and women’s events over successive Olympics.
