10th birthday for week-long festival of maths which started out in South East Technological University and is biggest festival of its kind in the world
The countdown is on to the kick off of this year’s Maths Week Ireland, the all-Island festival of maths and numeracy event which is returning for its 10th successive year.
The festival has now grown to be the biggest festival of its kind in the world with 250,000 participating in 2014.
Founded and coordinated by Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan of Calmast, Waterford Institute of Technology’s STEM outreach centre.
From this Saturday October 10th, the week-long celebration will include a host of fun and exciting activities for children, parents, teachers, maths enthusiasts and people everywhere. For SETU staff and their families, there will be a special evening performance of Bubblz the Mathematical Clown’s “Bubbly Maths” on Monday, 12 October.
Eoin Gill, Maths Week Ireland Co-ordinator said: “Over the past ten years we have had over one million people engaging with Maths Week Ireland, mainly primary and post-primary children, while helping them to have a more positive attitude towards maths.
“We’re delighted to celebrate the 10th annual Maths Week and to see this festival growing to the largest in the world. It’s a true partnership of people all over Ireland working together for a common aim - a very important aim to promote mathematics for all.”
Speaking at the launch of Maths Week Ireland 2015, the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan T.D. said, “We can all agree that maths and numeracy are essential life skills, while also contributing to developments across a wide variety of STEM-related disciplines. Over the past decade of Maths Week, over one million pupils, students, teachers and members of the public have participated in activities across Ireland. This unique and innovative national festival is contributing strongly to overall accessibility and awareness of the benefits and opportunities that maths provides for young people and I am delighted to wish this year’s event every success.”
World renowned and locally acclaimed mathematicians will enlighten and entertain people of all ages in the wonder of maths through fun and interesting talks, games, teasers, challenges and magic maths shows. And, for those who can’t make it to an event, activities will also be available on [url=http://www.mathsweek.ie]http://www.mathsweek.ie[/url] and Twitter at @mathsweek.
As part of Maths Week 2015, people are invited to engage via Twitter to share how they use maths in their everyday lives. By using the hashtag #iUSEMATHS Tweeters can take part in an all-Ireland Maths forum which aims to encourage all ages to get involved. Also on Wednesday, 14 October, Ireland’s online twitter quiz, Twiznight, will challenge tweeters to a number of maths puzzles.
Popular international speakers such as Dr Maths (Dr Steve Humble) and Bubblz the Mathematical Clown (Caroline Ainslie) will also engage thousands of students in the region during the week. Events for pupils in Waterford and the wider south-east region are fully booked up. These include sessions by staff from the Department of Mathematics and Computing at SETU and the School of Business.
A talk on probability: From the Bridges of Konigsberg to the Future of the Internet with Dr Padraig Kirwan, Head of Department of Computing and Mathematics SETU.
Explore the SET Game with Dr Aoife Hennessy, an exciting workshop which revolves around a challenging and enjoyable card game with a rich mathematical structure.
The maths of games workshop run by maths lecturer Dr Kieran Murphy explores the ideas behind combinatorial games- games where two players take turns trying to outsmart each other (Nim, Take-Away Game, The Poisoned Chocolate Game).
Mind your money is a talk focusing on budgeting for Primary School Students with Dr Richard Burke, School of Business, SETU.
About Maths Week Ireland
Maths Week Ireland is an all-island festival and enjoys the support of the Department of Education and Skills North – South Cooperation Unit, the Department of Education Northern Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland along with private sector funding from ESB, Xilinx and CRH.
Maths Week Ireland 2015 will be the 10th birthday of Maths Week Ireland, and will take place from October 10th – 18th.
For more information visit www.mathsweek.ie