From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity shows that it is not possible to be certain what the market will do next. The mathematical ideas covered are:
• Time series
• Percentage change
• Random walks
• Geometric...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity shows that derivatives can help to manage risk. The market in derivatives has grown enormously in recent years. On average, speculators break even. The mathematical ideas covered are:
•...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics for Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students shows how money which circulates has a greater effect than could be expected. The activity starts by students predicting on what they will spend their wages when they get a...

The Nappy Changing Challenge from Cre8ate maths provides real data about students for analysis. They undertake a timed, practical, exercise of folding a towelling nappy and putting it onto a toy baby doll. Throughout the task students complete a form for the Nappy challenge and record their completed data in an...

This Core Maths task looks at how countries are ranked at the 2012 Olympic Games. Students use Excel to order the data and are asked to comment on whether the ranking is fair. This activity is designed to then lead to a discussion of weighted rankings.

The teachers' notes give...

The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource where students are shown how to draw and format cumulative frequency graphs in Excel, showing the hourly earnings of men and women, and then interpret their graphs. Students need to know how to draw cumulative frequency graphs by hand before attempting to draw them...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics for Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students demonstrates that coffee cools gradually because it is hotter than room temperature and heat is lost to the room. Mixing the coffee with milk also cools it but this effect is...

In this Cre8ate maths activity students learn that a simulation is a model of a real situation. Data for the birth rate of rabbits is provided and is used by students to develop their own model to simulate the breeding of rabbits in a field and consider the likely damage to the farmer’s crop. Initially this is done...

In this resource from stats4schools, students are asked to investigate if they are at risk from the sun by looking at a news article and using a dataset. Students process data and produce graphs using ICT, comprehend current information on a subject and synthesise this for others. They also use the internet to...

This resource from CensusAtSchool aimed at Year Nine students is a complete set of five or six lessons which gives an idea of how to implement the project in the classroom using the students' own data.

There are...

This activity allows students to investigate how images are produced from data streams by using first a spreadsheet and then an image-processing program. They then go on to see how the usefulness of such a monochromatic image may be enhanced by using lookup tables and calibration. The materials used focus on the...

The Nuffield Foundation provide this activity for students to consider the difficulties in using real data, from the Department of Trade and Industry, to identify which sport is the most dangerous to participate in. The data includes the age and gender of patients requiring treatment at a sample of hospitals after...

This Core Maths resource enables students to explore various models of the spread of disease. 

The presentation has links to instructions for three activities:

• a practical investigation using a die and counters to model...

The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource which can be used to introduce the shape and main features of proportional, linear, inverse proportional, and quadratic graphs. Different versions of Excel spreadsheets allow students to explore how the shape and the position of a graph changes when the constants in its...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics for Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students shows how modelling helps decision making by allowing us to see what is likely to happen. The mathematical ideas covered are:
• Modelling cycle
• Binomial...