On Wednesday 30th June, Brook Green hosted its annual Mathsday. This is a day where the whole school celebrates all things Mathematical, having fun and learning simultaneously. There were an amazing set of activities and trips designed to showcase how Maths is used in everyday life and in nature.
One group of students were lucky enough to be amongst some of the first visitors to the Box, Plymouths’ new showcase museum. At the box they have many exhibition rooms, including one with Plymouth history, others with natural history, art and technology. Students had a go at being television presenters, marveled at the woolly mammoth and were amazed to discover that hippos and tigers used to roam wild around Plymouth and Devon. Who knew?
Student's comments about the day included:
'The technology was amazing.'
'It was an exciting day.'
'I enjoyed seeing the history of Plymouth.'
'It was and an amazing day, learning was fun'
There was also plenty to do and enjoy in school. Students learnt how to turn lemons and potatoes into batteries, storing energy. They took part in a QR code course around the school grounds. This was like treasure hunt, finding the codes and then answering the Maths questions behind the QR codes.
They looked at the introduction of fake meats, discussing how meat production is seen as being bad for the planet and what the future could hold for our food. They got to taste various products.
They saw how Mathematics is used to make fun games using computer coding and also how AI is now being used all around us and in our lives. This includes improving farming and health care, self driving cars, cleaning our oceans and our own homes of course.
Finally, there was a fascinating session on bees and how they dance to communicate to each other and work together to find lots of pollen.