Students’ competitions

MEI works with schools, universities and industry to provide opportunities for students to contribute to the enhancement of mathematics learning

Poster Competition

This year’s poster competition, organised by The Further Mathematics Support Programme and sponsored by Rolls-Royce plc, is open to Further Mathematics students in all FMSP registered schools or colleges and any ex-students who have been tutored through the FMSP.

A poster may be designed by a group of students or by an individual student.

The poster should be aimed at students in year 10 or 11, who may be considering studying AS or A level Mathematics and/or Further Mathematics, on the theme of

“Our favourite thing about Further Mathematics is…”

The poster should include one or more of the following:

• some interesting mathematical content from the Further Mathematics course
• some mathematical content or applications that are related to Further Mathematics
• explanation of why these topics are interesting or have been particularly enjoyed
• photographs of the poster creator(s) or their Further Mathematics group

The posters will be judged on the basis of:

• the choice of mathematical content
• the quality of writing, clarity of any diagrams and accuracy of mathematics
• the overall appearance, layout and design of the poster
• the potential impact to enrich and inspire the target audience of KS4 students

The poster designs must be the students’ original work. Students who enter will be required to sign a declaration that this is the case. No image used should be protected by copyright.

Prizes of £100 in Amazon vouchers will be awarded for the design of the winning poster(s). and the winners will be invited to Rolls-Royce’s Learning and Development Centre in Derby for the presentation. 

The winning design(s) will be printed as A2 posters and sent to over 2600 schools and colleges registered with the FMSP for display in their mathematics department and will be available for viewing on the FSMP website

The information sheet for the 2011-12 competition may be viewed here.

2008 Mathematics in Work Competition

In 2008, MEI conducted a Mathematics in Work competition for students on the Year in Industry (YinI) programme. The idea was proposed at an MEI Industry Committee meeting.

Students then on a YinI programme (see www.yini.org.uk ) were invited to submit exemplars which illustrated how they used mathematics during their placement. The exemplars needed to convey how school mathematics was used in ‘real-life’ problems in the workplace. The winning exemplars are used to help give younger students insight into such applications.

We received a number of interesting exemplars and selected two winners. One was entitled ‘The use of mathematics (mechanics) in the testing of an automotive engine component’, which looked at the stress on a component. This was by Dave Stewart who was on placement at GKN AutoStructures. The second was entitled ‘Jet engines with Pythagoras’ and looked at using Pythagoras’ theorem to check the thickness and movement of blades. This was by David Cross who was on placement at Rolls-Royce.

The two winning entries may be viewed by clicking the following links:

• The use of mathematics (mechanics) in the testing of an automotive engine component
• Jet engines with Pythagoras

2010 Mathematics in Work Competition

MEI received many more entries for a second Mathematics in Work competition. These were submitted in May 2010.

In 2010 we chose two winners as in 2008. However, the quality of the 2010 entries was so high we have decided to publish a number of them on the MEI website. These exemplars can be seen here.

2011 Mathematics in Work Competition

This year we again invited students on the YinI programme to design exemplars showing ways in which mathematics is used in their workplace. Details of the winning entries can be seen here.

2012 Mathematics in Work Competition

This year we are again inviting students on the YinI programme to design exemplars showing ways in which mathematics is used in their workplace. Entries have to be submitted to MEI by 18 May 2012. Full details of the arrangements may be found here.

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