Your local museum may not be the first place you think of to head to find maths but in Maths Week Scotland 2021 museum across Scotland showed the importance of maths in their collections with family days, schools workshops and on social media.
We've rounded up some of our highlights below
South Lanarkshire Museums
South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture have been asking local primary schools to help them create maths explorers' trails for Low Parks Museum. These can be used by young/family visitors as well as for use with visiting school groups and nurseries.
Pupils had a fantastic time visiting the museum in March to try out the trails which took them all across the museum solving fractions, finding shapes and measuring!
Gairloch
Gairloch Museum looked to it's weaving past with an interactive weaving workshop for children from local schools with an adapted version delivered using videos for virtual teaching.
National Mining Museum Scotland
The National Mining Museum focused on early level maths themed activities and games, many of which have been played in mining communities across Scotland for decades. A “quiet corner” was also developed with mining themed colour by number activities, as well as a giant Gem Treasure Hunt in the underground experience.
East Lothian Council Museums Service
East Lothian Council ran activities across four of their museums including the development of a children’s trail at Prestongrange with maths-based activities at different stations around the site; weighing related games with modern and Victorian scales at John Muir's Birthplace; a time-related activity based on the clock and two sundials at Dunbar Town House; and activities involving money and trade at the John Gray Centre Museum reflecting the commercial history of East Lothian.
Scottish Maritime Museum
A maths-filled family event in collaboration with Skylark IX Recovery Trust and Archipelago Folklore looked at the boat building. This included numeracy, measurement and symmetry with talks about how maths is used to build boats, as well as discussing how testing does not all always go to plan, highlighting perseverance and reinforcing that it is OK to make mistakes along the way.
Low Parks Museum in Hamilton
Museum on the Mound
A museum all about money is the perfect visit for Maths Week Scotland! Museum on the Mound has a series of online videos and resources for school unable to visit the site and a range of popular workshops bookable throughout the year.
Workshops at Museum on the Mound
Summerlee Museums
Summerlee Museum in Coatbridge ran a weekend of free activities, crafts and trails for all the family. They also developed a series of digital trails for primary schools and early years which can be downloaded and used for teacher led visits and which encourage pupils to find hidden maths all around the museum's site. In addition, they hosted special Bookbug sessions for Maths Week Scotland with a focus on counting, shapes and patterns.
Edinburgh Castle
See the castle from a different angle with the Castle Quest. Create your own makers marks and discuss why the half moon battery is a semi circle.
Explore the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh with this trail suitable for families or schools. Think about your own communication networks and find your favourite use for maths in our technology section
Activities at many of these museums were possible with funding from Maths Week Scotland. Museums also received training and support from Education Scotland to develop schools resources.
If your museum is interested in taking part in Maths Week Scotland 2022 and wants to find out more about training and funding please email info@mathsweek.scot
To celebrate Book Week Scotland, we are delighted to announce the finalists and winners of our Maths Tales story-writing competition, run in partnership with Read Write Count with The First Minister.
