Resourceaholic: 5 Math Gems #199 – Bright Minds Gather

Welcome to my 199^th gems post. This is where I share some of the latest news, ideas and resources for maths teachers.

1. 3D Pythagoras

Following on from the release of Vectorama (Gems 197) and Graphiti (Gems 196), Neil Kendall has completed a third project ‘Trimension‘. This tool allows the construction of 3D models to help illustrate 3D Pythagoras and trigonometry problems. The key feature is the ability to extract internal triangles into a flat diagram. Neil has included four pre-built examples from past GCSE papers to illustrate what it can do (just go to add > examples).

This is a fantastic tool for teaching 3D Pythagoras and trignonomety – thank you Neil!

2. Interwoven Maths

There’s loads to explore on Interwoven Maths including this Quadratics Always Sometimes Never.

Nathan also shared Class Duels – a maths game featuring over fifty topics from across Key Stage 3 to 5. It can be played in two-player mode (split screen, which can be done on an interactive whiteboard) and single-player mode.

Finally, Nathan shared a newly updated Edexcel Exam Countdown page which includes both GCSE and A level (including Further Maths) and shows dates for 2027. Interestingly, there are two GCSE papers before half term next year, and A level Paper 1 is before half term too…

3. A level
@andrewmaths1 posted a link to a website that I’ve not seen before. mathstutorneri.com/mtnresources-alevel-m is great for students aiming for an A*. There’s a booklet of challenge problems and also a set of exam papers.

It’s nice to have another website we can use for high challenge. We’ve always directed our A* students to MadasMaths which I first blogged about in 2016. This week’s Edexcel A Level Paper 1 had two questions that were very similar to MadasMaths questions, so clearly it’s a good idea to use this website! If you’re not familiar with MadasMaths, there’s IYGB practice papers for maths and further maths (don’t ask what IYGB stands for…!) and there are also booklets by topic. I often use questions from these booklets in my maths and further maths lessons (tip for new users: zoom in on the PDFs to see full worked solutions hiding in the booklets).

5. Tasks
There’s been a number of new tasks and resources shared on Bluesky and Twitter in the last few weeks.

Here’s a nice task from Dan Lewis (‪@4301maths) on equations of parallel lines.

@canning_mrmaths shared a Quadratic Graphs Venn task designed for learners to think deeply about different features of quadratic functions. The task has four variations levelling up in difficulty.

@giftedHKO shared some distance time graph questions.

Thank you to everyone who shares resources!

Update

We’re halfway through exam season (for my department, eight exams down and eight more to go!). This is what we’ve had at my school so far:

AQA GCSE: Paper 1 was nice! I thought Paper 2 was difficult on both Foundation and Higher Tier. On Higher there were a question where students had to draw a ‘freehand’ two way table and some of them didn’t know what that was! Yet if they’d been given a two way table to interpret or fill in the gaps they would have had no problem. So we must get them drawing more two way tables in lessons! There were two questions on Foundation requiring equating coefficients – we need to change our Foundation scheme of work to ensure this is explicitly taught in future. One paper to go!
Edexcel A Level: Paper 1 was difficult. There were some tough questions, fiddly answers and a few questions where students would be unable to do part b without managing part a which is frustrating. Some of our students have lost a bit of confidence but hopefully Paper 2 will give all students the chance to show what they know. The Further Maths (Core Pure) papers were both ok and I’m looking forward to Further Statistics 1 this Friday (my favourite module!).
AQA GCSE Statistics: We switched to AQA this year and our students were pleased with Paper 1. We entered Year 10 for the first time (see my post about our Option Block Experiment) – they were terrified going into the exam, but all smiles coming out!

For ‘best guess’ papers please continue to check Adam Creen’s dropbox which includes GCSE (maths and statistics) and A level.

My recent post aimed at Heads of Maths Tasks for the Summer Term went down well – I’ve had lots of emails asking for advice and resources. I’m always happy to help but bear with me at this time of year when there’s so much going on at school – I will always reply within a week!

I’m looking forward to the MEI Conference next month – always one of the highlights of the year! I hope to see lots of you there. I will leave this fantastic present gifted to Emily Rae by a student – I love this!

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