Nathan Day

Nathan Day

@nathanday.bsky.social

Maths (and Computer Science) teacher. Task interweaver. Daydream believer. https://interwovenmaths.com New! https://classduels.com/maths/ #EduSky #UKTeaching

1.4K followers266 following334 posts

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 13 did some exam practice of Differential Equations. This was a nice opportunity to link in some of their other Pure/Core Pure topics.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

I hope, at some point, to talk in depth about the current state of AI in aiding maths teaching/learning. But searching through past papers from other specifications to find suitable exam questions used to take me many hours, and AI has made that considerably quicker and more efficient.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Y13 kept on keeping on with Differential Equations and, while helping a Y12 with some trig at the lunchtime Maths Clinic, I had some fun exploring the joys of the unit citcle.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

I also got to use the word ansatz a lot with Year 13 solving some differential equations, which always makes me smile. It's also a word the was the basis for one of the more niche crossword clues I've written: "Substitute hesitation in for a number in a trial solution." (6)

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 13 did some Modelling with Vectors exam questions involving tunnels, pipelines, telephone cables, laser pens, submarines, aerodromes, tennis courts, pieces of cloth, lean-to greenhouses, tents, construction sites, ventilation shafts, coal seams, and glass ornaments. What fun!

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

Today was another day of teaching Computer Science, so not much was done in #MathsToday. In Year 9 we've been practising our skills with strings (interwovenmaths.com/strings), Year 8 were looking at logic gates and building some circuits with (logic.ly/demo/), and Year 7 were doing more Flowol!

interwovenmaths.comPython Strings | Interwoven MathsMultiple-choice practice reading Python programs that use strings: indexing, slicing, len, joining, upper, lower, find and more.
Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

I'll let the students be the judge of whether my handwritten answers are as clear as the typed ones... Realistically, a handwriting course would probably be the best CPD I could do to improve my teaching!

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 13 Further Maths had a lesson in the morning to revise for an afternoon Core Pure 1 assessment. I printed off a nice double-sided A3 revision mat. There's something about that format that I find feels more approachable than 50 questions in a list! interwovenmaths.com/mats/cp1

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

It's tricky to do a proper #MathsToday today as I've spent all in Bristol for a meeting. However, I've managed to spend a bit of time on the train back planning some Year 8 Ratio lessons, which reminded me of this rather unusual Combining Ratios Completion Table. interwovenmaths.com/small-tasks

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 10 did some exam question practice based on recent work on Similar Shapes. This term, I have been very much enjoying the benefits of having spent part of my summer holiday building a 8000+ question database of all GCSE Maths past paper questions.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In this case, I narrowed down the topic to similar triangles, sorted by performance, and found a couple of suitably interesting questions.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 10 were looking at the Product Rule for Counting. We looked at how subtly different scenarios lead to different calculations, each with different geometric/algebraic generalisations. I spent quite a while coming up with a context where all four variations felt meaningful.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

We also, naturally, also looked at the opposite - scenarios which look very different on the surface, but have the same underlying mathematical structure.

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 13 did a new Mathematical Gettier Question linking to Differential Equations (and then we started looking at Integrating Factors).

Nathan Day@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, I did some Mathematical Gettier Questions with Y8 and Y13. Mathematical Gettier Questions are tasks that explore how incorrect methods sometimes give correct answers. Explained in more detail here: interwovenmaths.com/mathematical... What ideas can you think of for similar tasks?

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 10 had their first 'Homework Quiz' of the year. Inspired by @karenshancock.bsky.social, they had a week to complete a set of questions. They could work together if desired, get help from others, or even use the solutions that were provided towards the end of the week. But...

Nathan Day
@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, Year 13 Further Maths were continuing with Complex Numbers. I used some of the @desmos.com graphs I made a couple of years ago.

Nathan Day@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday we were looking at roots of unity. I made use of the amazing new Desmos @desmos.bsky.social Complex Numbers features to make a visualisation of the sum of the roots of unity being 0: www.desmos.com/calculator/d...

desmos.comRoots of Unity

Nathan Day reposted

Paul Rowlandson
@drrowlandson.bsky.social

New blog post - Explores one of my favourite questions to ask after finishing a worked example: What would happen if I changed the question? wp.me/p9t8DE-s8 #mathschat #MTBoS #ukmathschat #iTeachMaths

wp.meWhat Would Happen if I Changed the Question?After completing a worked example on the board, one of my favourite questions to ask is, “What would happen if I changed the question?” More specifically, point to a number or term within the quest…

Nathan Day reposted

Alison Kiddle
@alisonkiddle.bsky.social

These problems formed the basis of a really nice conversation between me and @samholloway.bsky.social as we were on our habitual post prandial walk yesterday evening. Trying to identify the same structure led us to talk about other related problems with this structure.

Nathan Day@nathanday.bsky.social

In #MathsToday, I had my first after-school lesson with Year 10 Level 2 Further Maths. We looked at some different problems that just happened have some Pascal's triangle under the surface. Then explored how you can interpret each problem either recursively or combinatorially.