Perhaps some of you have seen the American television programme NUMB3RS, in which a mathematical whizz-kid uses his talents to solve crimes. A mathematical whizz-kid? That's a rare beast that is becoming rarer, by all accounts. Much has been written about young people leaving schools and moving into the workplace without the numeracy skills needed to be effective in their jobs.
In 2001, the Skills for Life scheme was introduced to improve the basic literacy and numeracy abilities of the population as a whole. However, since then, only around 2 per cent of workers lacking basic mathematics have gained a qualification in numeracy.
Recent figures suggest that around 23.8m adults have numeracy skills equating to below a C grade at GCSE level. This figure includes 6.8m who don't have the most basic functional maths skills needed to understand wage slips, read timetables or pay their household bills.
Many people have a 'phobia' of mathematics and are too ashamed to admit their lack of ability. So how can packaging help raise awareness and interest in a subject with which many appear to struggle?
I recently met up with Rod Bond, Further Mathematics Network Centre Manager, at the Mathematics Education Centre, Loughborough University. A graduate of the University recently approached Rod and offered him some funding to develop an exercise to make mathematics more interesting. Rod has come up with a resource that uses packaging as the context to explore several mathematic concepts such as areas, volumes, nets of solids and percentages, as related to Key Stage 4 of the GCSE curriculum.
Over a couple of hours, students would be required to design and build a package to contain a given volume. At the end of the session, each team would give a short presentation to the rest of the group explaining the design, how they had achieved the brief and how they had made the most economical use of materials and efficient use of space. Judges, perhaps from the packaging industry, would assess the teams to decide a winner.
Rod is keen to develop this in conjunction with our industry, as he sees a number of advantages for everyone.
Firstly, it would enthuse and excite young people about mathematics and its practical applications. Secondly, it would promote the importance of packaging with young people, and thirdly provide an opportunity for industry to build links with local schools. It would also provide excellent professional development opportunities for packaging employees to improve their own organisational and presentation skills.
There is a small catch - Rod is looking for some advice, along with some modest financial support, from industry to develop this project. A little digging in the pocket may go a long way towards improving the prospects of our children's mathematical skills and their perception of our oft-maligned industry.
This is undoubtedly a 'crime' we can't allow to continue.
For further details on the project, please contact ian.morris@iom3.org
Packaging should prompt an interest in understanding mathematics Could you keep up with the maths teacher?
