Last week a group of 40 Transition Year students participated in a week of work experience organised by the School of Mathematical Sciences during 21-25 January 2019.
The event, now in its 4th year in its current format, offers TY students resource materials and the teaching skills and practice which enable them to work as tutors for maths circles for the younger 1st year students in their own school, or for primary school students in nearby schools. Maths circles are lunchtime or after-school weekly maths clubs based on Maths Circles Ireland teaching materials, and are typically run by a teacher with the help of tutors. Delivery of Maths Circles across Ireland is coordinated by the Irish Mathematical Trust supported by SFI Discovery through a grant in 2017-2018 and again in 2018-2019.
The training week also offered participants the opportunity to experience university life through a variety of activities:
to attend a variety of undergraduate lectures in mathematics and related area;
to work on a small research project in a 1-2 hrs workshop.
to acquire teaching skills in purpose-designed workshops. In these workshops, participants were divided into teams and practiced leading a Maths Circle class based on resources provided by Maths Circles Ireland and the IMT.