Children often have it in their heads that learning Maths is dull. To challenge this notion, I created cZeus Maths Challenger: an innovative new app designed for all ages to make Maths fun.

cZeus supports teaching within schools and beyond, encouraging students to engage and build a social connection through Mathematics. The result is an app that not only facilitates the practice of Maths skills like addition, times tables and factorisation, but which also helps to improve students’ personal development and soft skills such as problem-solving.

This app bridges the gap between classroom learning and everyday Maths by increasing students’ confidence to apply skills outside of lessons. Students can challenge their parents, family members and friends outside school to a cZeus tournament, eliminating children’s lack of engagement with Maths by exercising logic in an entertaining and competitive environment.

Ray Turner, Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at Essex University, said: “cZeus puzzles offer a great alternative way for practising basic numeracy skills, as well as learning more complicated mathematical concepts such as algebra and basic number theory.”

Jon Greenman, Professor of Mathematics at Stirling University, said: “cZeus is a thoroughly absorbing game based on a smart idea and has the potential to take the player further along the path to a deeper appreciation and enjoyment of Mathematics.”

cZeus Maths Challenger has six difficulty classes to cater to students of all abilities. Players can unlock new levels as well as the chance to challenge each other in competitions. These features enable students to continuously improve their performance in agility and accuracy with numbers.

Ultimately, if students engage with Maths in a fun environment, they are more likely to be engaged and active learners - good news for teachers!

Download cZeus for free on IOS and Android. For a chance to WIN an iPad 9.7 head to cZeus Maths Challenger Facebook to enter our competition.

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“What is the one thing you have all done without thinking about it - without questioning why you are doing it?”

This is the question Andy Daly-Smith, a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, asks the 40+ school leaders in the room. There are various responses, some more sensible than others, till the answer, “sitting down” is offered.

For the 2018/19 school year, UK pupils will be asked: what would you reimagine? The BP Ultimate STEM Challenge is back, and even better than before! For the first time, BP Educational Service - in partnership with STEM Learning - is inviting UK students aged 11 to 14 to use their STEM skills to tackle one simple challenge: reimagine a solution to a real-life problem. The competition is set to dominate the first several months of the school year, with the deadline for submissions being Friday 15th February 2019.

Given all of the research on retrieval practice and spacing, I knew I wanted to continually review previously learned concepts with my Math 2b class. At the same time, I was stressed to cover all course content in the given term, and the students were always asking for more small group instruction. I have been looking for ways to solve all of these needs by integrating technology in an effective way.

James and Louise play a game of pool. Louise strikes the ball at a 45-degree angle and watches with great fascination to see how many times the ball bounces against the cushion. She wonders if the number of bounces would change if she had a bigger or a smaller pool table. She drags James around countless pool halls, keeping a record in a hand-drawn tally chart attached to her clipboard, until she believes that she has collected enough data to find a pattern. After several hours of puzzling, Louise finds a rule and is able to use this rule to find out how many bounces there will be on any pool table in the world!

Outdoor Learning can be a powerful tool in the teacher’s rucksack. But like any tool, you need the right one for the job. You can cut wood with a screwdriver, but it’s tricky and messy! I want to share with you some ways that learning outside the classroom can make an impact on English and Maths, whatever age or phase, and how it can in turn impact on a wider school community.

Box set binging, is it a good thing? Some people would argue for and an equal amount against. When you are watching a full series you get to know the characters, not forget what happened in the previous episode and understand the plot of the series. I realise at this point you’re probably thinking that you were going to read an article on a speed lesson taught using zombies, however, everything should become apparent shortly. At some point over the summer when I decided to watch The Walking Dead, in-between thinking that every episode is basically the same, I noted down in the margin of my planner ‘teach a lesson using zombies’. About three weeks ago, I found this this note. This is my story about what happened next.

Learning Resources, a manufacturer and supplier of innovative educational tools and learning aids, have produced a range of engaging products that support the Maths Mastery approach to learning, designed to enhance understanding and enjoyment, as well as raising attainment for all children.

Education is a field ripe for change. A confluence of influences has altered both our purposes and methods. New technologies have altered what is possible, shifted our interactions with knowledge and allowed for new models of connectedness. The forces of globalisation, and with that the movement of both manufacturing workforces and increasingly routine cognitive labour away from Western nations, is altering the face of work in these nations. Our children will leave school requiring a different set of skills to those that secured them employment but a short time ago.

“We are skilled mathematicians... this year we will become more skilled…” This message has helped me to drive home some messages that I hold dear to my educational philosophy and use in my everyday teaching and learning. It has helped develop growth mindsets, positive self-images and, most of all, developed an attitude which helps children to learn.