Maths Through Ceilidh
To mark Maths Week Scotland's 2023 theme Maths in Motion, National Museums Scotland has partnered with Science Ceilidh to deliver a free online session exploring maths through music and dance. The session has been pre-recorded, for you to run at whatever time is most suitable to your class. The materials include a video and a set of lesson notes.
Level: P5 - P7
Running time: The video runs for 20 minutes 47. With the activities, it can take up to 40 minutes depending on how long you want to extend the activities for.
Curriculum Links: MTH 2 -05a, MTH 2 -12a, MTH2 – 19a, EXA 2 -08a
Learning Outcomes:
- We will explore counting and understanding the beats underlying different music and time signatures
- We will explore symmetries through different ceilidh and dance moves
- We will encourage pupils to get creative and develop their own movements and dances which explore symmetries
Most of the lesson can be done with the learners at their desks being able to see the video. There will be clear points to pause the video to do activities with the class. Please refer to the Lesson Notes (available for download below) for further guidance.
(Click the arrows icon that appears at the bottom right hand corner when you hover over the video, to view in fullscreen. Press escape on your keyboard to return to this page.)
What next?
Check out all other free interdisciplinary resources on the Science Ceilidh website, including further ones developed with Maths Week Scotland and a teaching resource exploring how any STEM theme can be explored with Expressive Arts.
This video was developed by Science Ceilidh with support from Maths Week Scotland 2023. Research and development was with Iris Henzel and Lewis Hou, filming and editing by Paul Maguire.
Latest News and Events
Scottish Science Festivals in 2005
We love science festivals here at Maths Week Scotland, as there's always lots of maths involved! To help you keep up to date with all the science festivals happening in Scotland this year, we've made a list of the ones we know about and we'll update the list throughout the year.
Maths Week 2025: Wild Maths
Maths Week Scotland will be back 22 September - 28 September 2025 with the theme Wild Maths, looking at maths in the natural world.