Nuffield Mathematics Project

The aim of the Nuffield Mathematics Project was to devise a 'contemporary approach for students from 5 to 13'. The writing team started work in September 1964. The newly-formed Schools Council undertook to help by identifying a dozen pilot areas. These would ensure that a good number of teachers would tryout the materials with students and also provide Teachers' Centres where work could be discussed, criticised, improved and developed.

Running through all the work was the central notion that the students must be set free to make their own discoveries and think for themselves, and so achieve understanding, instead of learning through mysterious drills.

Rather than produce materials for students the team focused on a series of guides which did not comprise an entirely new syllabus, but put the emphasis on how to learn, not on what to teach.

The guides did not cover years, or indeed any specific time; they simply developed themes and therefore showed the teacher how to allow one student to progress at a different pace to another. They contained direct teaching suggestions, examples of apparently un-mathematical subjects and situations which could be used to develop a mathematical sense, examples of students' work, and suggestions for class discussions and out-of-school activities.

The Guides fall into three categories: Teachers' Guides, Weaving Guides and Check-up Guides.

The Teachers' Guides cover five main topics: Computation and Structure, Shape and Size, Graphs Leading to Algebra, Logic and Probability and statistics.

The Weaving Guides are single-concept books which give detailed instructions or information about a particular subject.

The Check-ups Guides were intended to provide information on the students' progress. As traditional tests were difficult to administer in the new atmosphere of individual discovery it was the intention of the authors to replace these by individual check-ups for individual students.

Resources

Filter

Subject
Age
Type
Showing 11 result(s)

Teachers' Guides

The Nuffield Mathematics Project Teachers' Guides cover the topics of computation and structure, shape and size, and graphs leading to algebra. The books do not cover years, or indeed any specific time; they simply develop themes and therefore show the teacher how to allow one child to progress at a different pace...

Weaving Guides

The Nuffield Mathematics Project Weaving Guides are single-concept books which give detailed instructions or information about a particular subject.

The first two guides are concerned with the advent of calculators and computers and how they might be used to develop mathematical concepts.

The use...

Problem Cards

This collection, part of the Nuffield Mathematics Project, contains two packs of problem cards that have been designed for use by students in conjunction with the main work
described in the Teachers' Guides. It is intended that the majority of students should at least be able to 'have a go' at most of the...

Checking up Guides

The Nuffield Mathematics Project Check-up Guides were intended to provide information on the students' progress. As traditional tests were difficult to administer in the new atmosphere of individual discovery it was the intention of the authors to replace these by...

Pages