Katherine Warington School were given the exciting opportunity to nominate two exceptional Year 9 students to attend five Maths Masterclasses, run by The Royal Institute (RI) at the University of Hertfordshire on Saturdays throughout October, November and December.

The RI Maths Masterclasses, nurture students’ curiosity – inspiring them to continue their STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) engagement into the future. Throughout these Masterclasses, students meet new speakers and volunteers who give them insight into possible careers and help them realise that STEM subjects are for everyone, including them. Each Masterclass workshop is led by inspiring Masterclass Speakers, who come from a variety of STEM backgrounds.

Here are some quotes from the two Year 9 students who have been attending, about their experiences at the sessions thus far:

“In week 1, we talked about “Perplexing permutation puzzles” like Rubik’s cubes and how many combinations they can have and how to work it out. We then looked at how round robin tournaments work when everyone plays against everyone. In the second week, we thought about rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock and how each of those defeats two others and is defeated by two others. We were also looking at the card game Dobble and how it’s possible for any card to have a matching picture to any of the other cards. And in the most recent week we were looking at probability in the quantum world which was very confusing but quite enjoyable. It was strange thinking about how some things are certain and have a 100% chance in the “classical world” but not in the quantum world.” John D:

“So far I have found the Maths Masterclasses both interesting and enjoyable as they tackle new areas of Maths that I have never come across before. Some of the topics that they have covered include: permutation puzzles and the Maths behind games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors and Dobble. Whilst being very interesting, these topics have also challenged me to think deeper and expand my knowledge into more complex problems that are not covered in typical Maths lessons. I have enjoyed the masterclasses so far and am looking forward to the challenges that the coming sessions will most certainly pose.” Jessica H

Miss Caplin