I was approached by GEM and asked if I could provide some training for educators working at Welsh galleries, libraries, archives and museums who want to develop maths-based activities for their learning programmes. To do this successfully, it is also necessary to consider the relatively recently implemented “New Curriculum for Wales”.
The training included a short section aiming to justify the inclusion of mathematics in heritage learning activities, followed by an overview of key aspects of the Curriculum for Wales relating to mathematics and numeracy, and where it might provide opportunities for heritage sector organisations to support learning.
Next, I presented some quickfire examples of mathematics in museums from my own experiences, followed by some ways to get started spotting the maths in their own stories and exhibitions.
Attendees were then challenged to find some mathematical threads to pull on, which they reported back to the group.