WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:06.420 Well, we've heard from a wide variety of experts, both on and off the platform, including those from the classroom. 00:00:06.860 --> 00:00:12.640 I'm now going to invite one person from each of the collaborating departments of our university, 00:00:12.780 --> 00:00:15.100 who are going to come up and sit down here as I talk. 00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:18.480 Please. 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:23.980 Backing the creation of Cambridge Mathematics, to let us know two things. 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:32.960 firstly what's their one big personal takeaway point from today and secondly what does today's 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:37.300 launch of the mathematics framework mean to the organization that they're representing 00:00:37.300 --> 00:00:42.620 as an example my my personal takeaway point comes from our south african delegate 00:00:42.620 --> 00:00:50.940 the framework and the attachments are important but if we don't have a connection to the student 00:00:50.940 --> 00:00:54.000 then there won't be any learning or teaching. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:58.260 And perhaps that comes from the romance and enjoyment of maths, I don't know. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:02.320 My generic point to let you know is that today also sees the launch 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.180 of the Cambridge Mathematics very own website. 00:01:05.580 --> 00:01:08.280 To engage with the concepts we've been talking about today 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:11.020 and have that long-term conversation, public conversation, 00:01:11.240 --> 00:01:12.680 obviously you can email Lynn, 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:18.260 but it's going to be a lot easier to go to www.cambridgemaths.org 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:20.820 which has all the information you have in print 00:01:20.820 --> 00:01:25.160 up online and will be increasingly populated with your ideas. 00:01:25.700 --> 00:01:28.000 So first of all, I'm going to call upon Peter Phillips, 00:01:28.360 --> 00:01:30.180 Chief Executive of Cambridge University Press, 00:01:30.380 --> 00:01:31.460 to give us his thoughts. 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:33.020 They're going to sit down for this, 00:01:33.160 --> 00:01:35.860 which I'm hoping is going to get tight and very sharp. 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:37.140 Peter. 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:38.220 Thanks a lot, Bennett. 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:40.180 It's been a really good day, 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:43.400 and I just wanted to start by thanking everyone 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:45.200 who's been involved in putting this together, 00:01:45.620 --> 00:01:48.520 and particularly for Lynne for having the courage 00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:59.454 to put out a first draft of the framework It not an easy thing to do when you know there are going to be a lot of conflicting opinions As a mathematician myself our conversations 00:01:59.454 --> 00:02:04.994 today have got real personal significance for me. My own passion for mathematics was 00:02:04.994 --> 00:02:10.454 kindled not only by great teaching, but also by new approaches to mathematics introduced 00:02:10.454 --> 00:02:17.534 by the School Mathematics Project that started in the UK in the 60s. They led for me to a 00:02:17.534 --> 00:02:22.994 fascination and joy in mathematics in a way which I think drills in arithmetic and geometry 00:02:22.994 --> 00:02:27.694 wouldn't have done. I'm proud to know now, though I didn't at the time, that Cambridge 00:02:27.694 --> 00:02:32.834 University Press was heavily involved in the School Mathematics Project. What I think 00:02:32.834 --> 00:02:38.554 we have now off the conversations today is a new and huge opportunity to help improve 00:02:38.554 --> 00:02:44.474 mathematical education internationally, catalyzed by the combined resources of Cambridge. And 00:02:44.474 --> 00:02:48.694 And the snippets of research which Margaret talked about in the session this morning showed 00:02:48.694 --> 00:02:52.234 just how important and necessary that is. 00:02:52.234 --> 00:02:55.294 For me, the key takeout is this. 00:02:55.294 --> 00:03:00.434 Every single session today has for me underscored the need for deep integration in our thinking 00:03:00.434 --> 00:03:02.334 across Cambridge. 00:03:02.334 --> 00:03:07.954 Learning materials, teaching approaches, assessment, all of them need a holistic and joined up 00:03:07.954 --> 00:03:08.954 approach. 00:03:08.954 --> 00:03:14.274 I think if we can really join those up, those distinctive strengths of the university, we 00:03:14.274 --> 00:03:15.674 we can really make a new contribution, 00:03:16.214 --> 00:03:18.514 provided we're also open to working closely 00:03:18.514 --> 00:03:21.074 with many of you in the room and many other organisations, 00:03:21.834 --> 00:03:23.454 both in the UK and overseas, 00:03:24.254 --> 00:03:25.714 and learning from places, 00:03:26.394 --> 00:03:28.774 as Tim was talking in the last session, like Singapore. 00:03:29.894 --> 00:03:31.074 I think for the press, 00:03:33.674 --> 00:03:35.974 we're really proud to be part of this initiative, 00:03:36.654 --> 00:03:38.814 alongside our colleagues from elsewhere and the university. 00:03:39.714 --> 00:03:42.114 Maths is a huge part of who we are as an organisation. 00:03:42.114 --> 00:03:46.954 from Newton's Principia, which we published three centuries ago, to Pentecostal, 00:03:47.058 --> 00:03:52.258 publishing in the last century more than a third of all of the people who won the 00:03:52.258 --> 00:03:57.138 Fields medals. I'm personally committed to making Cambridge mathematics a 00:03:57.138 --> 00:04:01.058 success including as Dan was talking about this afternoon innovative use of 00:04:01.058 --> 00:04:06.578 new technology to complement the existing approaches. I think in every 00:04:06.578 --> 00:04:10.698 session we've said we want students to master the functional and analytical 00:04:10.698 --> 00:04:15.338 tools they need for modern life and employment. I believe though that we 00:04:15.338 --> 00:04:21.278 won't achieve that unless we can also through teaching and resources excite and engage students 00:04:21.278 --> 00:04:26.758 by giving them a taste not only of the struggle of learning mathematics but also of its joy 00:04:26.758 --> 00:04:33.578 through encouraging curiosity and playfulness and glimpses of beauty too. Achieving that 00:04:33.578 --> 00:04:39.758 alongside the need to balance an evidence-based approach with agility and innovation are for me 00:04:39.758 --> 00:04:46.158 critical things for the press to take away. More than three decades ago, my mathematics teacher 00:04:46.158 --> 00:04:52.378 told my class about a French mathematician called Urbain Le Verrier, who through his modelling 00:04:52.378 --> 00:04:57.078 correctly predicted both the existence and the position of the planet Neptune. 00:04:57.938 --> 00:05:06.218 I still find that amazing and it inspired me at the time. Today is Le Verrier's birthday and I hope 00:05:06.218 --> 00:05:12.298 what we've started here on his birthday can lead to new approaches which I hope will inspire many, 00:05:12.438 --> 00:05:14.898 many people, both students and teachers around the world. 00:05:21.838 --> 00:05:28.758 Next is Charlie Gildedale who is of course an early, is interim director of Enrich, an early 00:05:28.758 --> 00:05:33.358 example of collaboration between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Mathematics. Charlie. 00:05:33.358 --> 00:05:45.873 Thank you Bennett Yes we very happy to be given the opportunity to collaborate in this way And as Bennett says we got a history of collaborating within the university so in which started over 00:05:45.873 --> 00:05:57.513 15 years ago and initially was just publishing isolated problems that aimed 00:05:57.513 --> 00:06:04.333 to enrich students learning experience experience of mathematics but over time 00:06:04.333 --> 00:06:11.373 these going from publishing single resources we've gone to publishing sort 00:06:11.373 --> 00:06:16.453 of collections of resources and more recently rather than just thinking about 00:06:16.453 --> 00:06:20.413 students we've been thinking about supporting teachers about integrating 00:06:20.413 --> 00:06:27.733 resources into into schools into classrooms we've had the support from the 00:06:27.733 --> 00:06:36.273 mass faculty at the university who we've been working closely with and we are in constant 00:06:36.273 --> 00:06:43.393 conversations with the faculty of education in the faculty of education steve is what in the 00:06:43.393 --> 00:06:48.693 audience here is one of the representatives we have people like kenneth ruffin who've been working 00:06:48.693 --> 00:06:56.333 on the episteme project steve who's interested in problem solving who's interested in cpd but in 00:06:56.333 --> 00:07:06.853 particular in thinking about how research can influence and inform us on good practice. 00:07:07.473 --> 00:07:15.193 And so it seems to me that Enrich is ideally placed to work together with these organisations, 00:07:15.913 --> 00:07:21.373 having had a history of doing this already. It seems to me that the Cambridge framework 00:07:21.373 --> 00:07:23.433 comes, Cambridge Maths 00:07:23.433 --> 00:07:24.913 comes at a time 00:07:24.913 --> 00:07:26.793 at a really good time for Enrich. 00:07:27.113 --> 00:07:29.253 We have been progressing 00:07:29.253 --> 00:07:31.233 towards producing 00:07:31.233 --> 00:07:33.253 resources that we want 00:07:33.253 --> 00:07:34.013 to see emissary 00:07:34.117 --> 00:07:39.317 embedded in the classroom. More and more schools are taking our resources, taking our mapping 00:07:39.317 --> 00:07:46.457 documents and integrating them into what they do in schools. But a lot of it has been rather 00:07:46.457 --> 00:07:54.237 haphazard. So having a framework which is research-based, which is well-informed, which 00:07:54.237 --> 00:08:06.477 tries to link the aims more closely with our aims 00:08:06.477 --> 00:08:11.657 and assesses the value of these resources in a systematic way 00:08:11.657 --> 00:08:17.717 will mean that schools will trust these resources a lot more. 00:08:18.277 --> 00:08:21.817 So many schools at present use our resources 00:08:21.817 --> 00:08:26.177 and often think that our resources are there to be used 00:08:26.177 --> 00:08:30.757 after students have completed the work from textbooks. 00:08:32.137 --> 00:08:38.077 We'd like to see, and I think this is going to be part of what Cambridge Maths is expecting, 00:08:38.597 --> 00:08:43.917 to see problem solving, thinking mathematically, to be an integral part of the framework. 00:08:44.577 --> 00:08:49.057 And so we look forward to contributing to that kind of conversation. 00:08:50.377 --> 00:08:51.257 Thank you very much. 00:08:51.817 --> 00:08:56.037 Next is Nigel Peake from the Faculty of Mathematics. Nigel. 00:08:56.437 --> 00:09:01.177 Thank you, Bennett. So my personal impression I've tremendously enjoyed today. 00:09:01.677 --> 00:09:04.937 I'm a mathematical academic. I'm not an educationalist. 00:09:05.377 --> 00:09:13.417 So I've learned a huge amount today and it's tremendously inspiring and reassuring for me to hear about all these wonderful, 00:09:13.737 --> 00:09:20.297 highly professional activities that are going on in such a vital endeavour. 00:09:20.297 --> 00:09:36.491 Now before saying what I think the challenge for my organisation is perhaps I can just give you one minute background about the Cambridge Mathematics Faculty So the faculty is made up of two departments the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics which I a part 00:09:36.871 --> 00:09:41.011 and also the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. 00:09:41.671 --> 00:09:43.591 So together we make up the faculty. 00:09:43.591 --> 00:09:46.171 and in addition to those two departments 00:09:46.171 --> 00:09:49.671 the key component of course is the Millennium Mathematics 00:09:49.671 --> 00:09:52.311 project which is of course tremendously 00:09:52.311 --> 00:09:56.551 successful and will be far far into the future I'm sure. 00:09:57.211 --> 00:10:00.031 Now we aim to do research 00:10:00.031 --> 00:10:03.731 and to teach to the highest international standards 00:10:03.731 --> 00:10:06.251 and just a word about our research 00:10:06.251 --> 00:10:09.391 there's a huge breadth of what goes on 00:10:09.391 --> 00:10:12.511 and I think this is maybe one of the things we can bring to this project 00:10:12.511 --> 00:10:17.531 so we have people doing research in almost every area of pure mathematics, 00:10:17.911 --> 00:10:21.071 in geometry, in number theory, in logic. 00:10:21.651 --> 00:10:23.911 We have people working in theoretical physics, 00:10:24.031 --> 00:10:27.271 most famously Stephen Hawking, but many other colleagues as well, 00:10:27.271 --> 00:10:32.631 addressing the most fundamental problems about where our universe came from. 00:10:33.091 --> 00:10:36.911 We have people addressing really key issues about our own planet. 00:10:37.071 --> 00:10:40.251 For instance, what do we do with all this CO2 that we're churning out? 00:10:40.691 --> 00:10:42.491 How do volcanoes work? 00:10:43.091 --> 00:10:45.211 We have experts in statistics. 00:10:45.771 --> 00:10:47.411 We have experts in big data. 00:10:47.551 --> 00:10:50.931 One of the things I was mentioning on that video at the beginning 00:10:50.931 --> 00:10:53.291 was that as a human race, 00:10:53.331 --> 00:10:55.971 we produce far more data than we've ever produced. 00:10:56.451 --> 00:10:58.671 But the only way to understand that data, I think, 00:10:58.711 --> 00:10:59.511 is through mathematics. 00:10:59.511 --> 00:11:01.611 So it's a very, very exciting, 00:11:02.111 --> 00:11:05.531 possibly the most exciting time to be doing mathematics. 00:11:06.951 --> 00:11:10.091 Now, we've already heard that the project is definitely not about 00:11:10.091 --> 00:11:15.231 getting more students into Cambridge to do mathematics, but my colleague Stephen Cowley 00:11:15.231 --> 00:11:21.071 said it perfectly, what we want to do is we want to give as many people as possible right across 00:11:21.175 --> 00:11:26.575 to the board a fulfilling experience because of course this will enhance the discipline 00:11:26.575 --> 00:11:32.215 tremendously. I was thinking about our own students and how were they inspired to do 00:11:32.215 --> 00:11:37.175 mathematics at university and I think there are various things that happen. One is of course many 00:11:37.175 --> 00:11:43.195 students are inspired by the challenge of the subject, the satisfaction of solving difficult 00:11:43.195 --> 00:11:49.035 problems. A word we don't use often enough but it has been used a few times today is enjoyment. 00:11:49.815 --> 00:11:52.755 Mathematics can be very enjoyable. 00:11:53.075 --> 00:11:54.995 Mathematics can be a very beautiful subject. 00:11:55.955 --> 00:11:58.895 And, of course, mathematics now has more applications than ever. 00:11:59.015 --> 00:12:02.095 So one of the messages we're always trying to get out 00:12:02.095 --> 00:12:06.295 is that it's possible to have a career as a mathematician doing mathematics 00:12:06.295 --> 00:12:09.095 in a huge range of different fields. 00:12:09.095 --> 00:12:11.395 You don't have to be an academic to do mathematics. 00:12:12.015 --> 00:12:15.015 There's a huge range of careers that you can pursue. 00:12:15.875 --> 00:12:18.375 The engineers are very good at getting this message out, 00:12:18.375 --> 00:12:21.695 but that's not something we need to work harder at. 00:12:22.575 --> 00:12:28.295 So one of the things we may be able to contribute is to do with applications. 00:12:28.495 --> 00:12:32.295 I personally have been involved in something with the Institute of Mathematics 00:12:32.295 --> 00:12:35.055 and its applications called Mathematics Matters, 00:12:35.155 --> 00:12:37.355 which has been a series of case studies. 00:12:37.835 --> 00:12:40.655 And this is a case study about a particular piece of mathematics 00:12:40.655 --> 00:12:43.995 which started in academia maybe, 00:12:44.295 --> 00:12:46.635 but then has found an application in the real world 00:12:46.635 --> 00:12:55.615 and we go from drug modelling to SGI for movies to the financial industry. 00:12:56.155 --> 00:13:01.775 And what we're finding, although these case studies were originally intended for politicians and policy makers, 00:13:02.275 --> 00:13:05.215 they have tremendous play in schools as well. 00:13:05.335 --> 00:13:09.195 So if that's the sort of resource we can provide, then I'd be very happy. 00:13:09.555 --> 00:13:24.469 I been very struck by a number of things that people have said Malcolm Swan talked about the big ideas of the subject and awareness of the power of mathematics We spend almost all our time thinking about the power of maths and how the different bits of mathematics are connected 00:13:24.469 --> 00:13:30.409 together. Maybe not obvious at a school level, but we hope we can explain that more. And Daniel 00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:35.349 Thomas made an excellent point, I thought, about being able to tell pupils where does this particular 00:13:35.349 --> 00:13:37.369 piece of mathematics if I've just learnt 00:13:37.369 --> 00:13:38.909 where does it go next? 00:13:39.609 --> 00:13:41.209 And that's I think a really inspirational 00:13:41.209 --> 00:13:42.569 thing for many students. 00:13:43.129 --> 00:13:45.049 So I and my colleagues are tremendously 00:13:45.049 --> 00:13:47.149 happy to be involved in this project. 00:13:47.449 --> 00:13:49.209 We're looking forward to the next five years and 00:13:49.209 --> 00:13:51.129 wish you tremendous success. 00:13:51.769 --> 00:13:53.109 Thank you very much. And 00:13:53.109 --> 00:13:55.409 finally Simon Liebus, the Group Chief Executive 00:13:55.409 --> 00:13:56.409 of Cambridge Assessment. 00:13:57.809 --> 00:13:59.349 Thank you and thank you Lynn and everybody 00:13:59.349 --> 00:14:01.429 involved in organising what's been a very stimulating 00:14:01.429 --> 00:14:03.209 day. I was amused Peter 00:14:03.209 --> 00:14:09.509 talks about how he got into maths because he'd been exposed to the SNP as a child, and I'm a bit 00:14:09.509 --> 00:14:13.849 older than Peter, and I think I must have been exposed to SNP at a slightly earlier stage in 00:14:13.849 --> 00:14:18.829 its evolution, because it's one of the things that put me off maths pretty fundamentally, and one of 00:14:18.829 --> 00:14:23.049 the reasons I've been rather excited by this project and our general engagement with maths 00:14:23.049 --> 00:14:26.649 over the last few years is actually I think there are some real opportunities now to think fundamentally 00:14:26.649 --> 00:14:32.829 about how we improve maths education. It's a problem that exists throughout the developed world, 00:14:32.829 --> 00:14:35.849 how we actually get young people to engage in mass, 00:14:35.889 --> 00:14:37.769 how we can improve the quality of mass education. 00:14:37.969 --> 00:14:40.129 There are shortages in most developed economies 00:14:40.129 --> 00:14:42.389 of competent mass teachers. 00:14:42.949 --> 00:14:44.689 So there are all sorts of issues associated 00:14:44.689 --> 00:14:46.769 with the delivery of a high-class mass education. 00:14:46.949 --> 00:14:49.849 And I think a framework's a very good way of approaching it. 00:14:50.089 --> 00:14:52.089 I think there's been quite a lot of discussion about, 00:14:52.089 --> 00:14:54.589 and indeed I've been to a number of mass conferences 00:14:54.589 --> 00:14:56.609 because it's been said this has been a long time 00:14:56.609 --> 00:14:57.729 in the gestation, this project. 00:14:57.869 --> 00:14:59.909 We've been thinking about it and talking about it 00:14:59.909 --> 00:15:02.189 and mobilising behind it for three or four years. 00:15:02.189 --> 00:15:08.129 and I think it will take at least another five years to sort of get through to the next phase or the phase after 00:15:08.233 --> 00:15:13.633 that but in the course of that I've attended many different maths conferences and this one's been 00:15:13.633 --> 00:15:17.273 pretty sort of benign and pretty civilised because we haven't actually ended up with fisticuffs so 00:15:17.273 --> 00:15:21.913 there's been a bit of controversy but I think one of the important things for me is that the 00:15:21.913 --> 00:15:27.853 framework's not a Trojan horse for disaggregating maths as a discipline more it's about providing 00:15:27.853 --> 00:15:32.653 an idiom in which a discussion about the shape and requirements of maths education can take place 00:15:32.653 --> 00:15:36.933 and I think that's really important and actually it's absent from a lot of public discourse about 00:15:36.933 --> 00:15:41.673 maths education. There's been a lot of talk about politics and how maths education can 00:15:41.673 --> 00:15:47.193 be influenced by politics, influenced by policy makers. I think it's part of our responsibility 00:15:47.193 --> 00:15:52.133 as a professional community, as educators, as mathematicians, for those of you who are, 00:15:52.393 --> 00:15:56.553 to take ownership of the discipline and make sure that we've got an idiom that we command 00:15:56.553 --> 00:16:01.993 that's not at the disposal of politicians. Also, we're involved a lot in English language 00:16:01.993 --> 00:16:06.333 education, and that was part of the inspiration behind this, because they're the common European 00:16:06.333 --> 00:16:12.133 framework of reference for classifying language competence at various different levels is very 00:16:12.133 --> 00:16:18.093 well established. But I think there's an important parallel here that most of us here are native 00:16:18.093 --> 00:16:21.973 English speakers. We have English as our first language, but of course the majority of the world 00:16:21.973 --> 00:16:28.493 do not have English as a first language. But in many countries, English education is looked at in 00:16:28.493 --> 00:16:33.493 much the same terms as math education. It's a matter of enfranchisement for citizens and also 00:16:33.493 --> 00:16:39.493 So it's a way that people can have an active, it allows them to participate much more actively in economic life. 00:16:39.633 --> 00:16:42.273 So the real challenge is about English language education. 00:16:42.613 --> 00:16:48.293 And the framework there has been very successful in terms of classifying various different levels of ability 00:16:48.293 --> 00:16:52.253 and providing a common idiom in which people can agree about certain levels. 00:16:52.253 --> 00:16:56.753 You can do statements associated with the lowest level and the highest level. 00:16:56.893 --> 00:17:08.468 And it pretty immediately apparent on an intuitive basis what that means I think what we need to do is move to an environment where we can do the same sort of thing with maths I think we can do that We can make a real contribution 00:17:08.468 --> 00:17:11.728 So it's very exciting to be working with everybody in Cambridge. 00:17:11.808 --> 00:17:15.748 But it's not just a Cambridge-based activity. 00:17:16.008 --> 00:17:19.168 The idea is Cambridge can be used as a platform for engaging with the community as a whole. 00:17:19.648 --> 00:17:24.308 We've had many maths educators here. We've had many mathematicians here. 00:17:24.308 --> 00:17:28.068 We haven't had many industrialists actually, and that's one of my takeaway points, that 00:17:28.068 --> 00:17:31.588 we do need to get some industrialists, because one of the big frustrations we often have 00:17:31.588 --> 00:17:35.808 is that people come and say, oh, you know, the maths undergraduates are absolutely hopeless, 00:17:35.808 --> 00:17:39.568 they don't know anything, or people coming into work in our particular industry are absolutely 00:17:39.568 --> 00:17:40.568 useless, they don't know anything. 00:17:40.568 --> 00:17:44.608 And then you say, well, can you tell us what it is that you'd like us to educate, and what 00:17:44.608 --> 00:17:46.108 do you want us to focus on? 00:17:46.108 --> 00:17:49.968 And answer get you none, and I think this is a way of tackling that, and as such represents 00:17:49.968 --> 00:17:52.688 a really positive way forward in terms of improving maths education. 00:17:52.688 --> 00:18:22.668 Thank you very much. 00:18:22.688 --> 00:18:27.068 what to do next and say well we've done all the research we've got a framework 00:18:27.068 --> 00:18:31.268 the framework is not a not an instruction to you but you use this to 00:18:31.268 --> 00:18:38.168 create your curriculum your CPD your your assessments to deliver a world-class 00:18:38.168 --> 00:18:41.528 maths education so as I say I'm not going to say goodbye but we are going to 00:18:41.528 --> 00:18:47.928 finish now and I hope to see you online shortly thank you very much 00:18:52.688 --> 00:18:54.688 Thank you.