Welcome to Applying Maths
You’ll find my blog, and all my resources for Higher Applications of Maths, shared on this site.
Quick Highlights:
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My Higher Applications Task Booklet - Over 30 pages of Higher Apps goodness!
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Save That Baby - A four lesson programme aimed at S1s themed around paediatric medicine.
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Just Say No - Why the Hayward Report gets maths education all wrong.
Reach out @brynspiration on X, Bluesky and Micro.Blog.
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Bryn
Posts
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SMC 2025
Thanks to everybody who came to the SMC, my presentation and a bunch of related files can be downloaded here:
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Save That Baby
Save That Baby is a four lesson programme that covers:
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Maths Conf 33 Materials – Not Your Average Lesson
Thanks to everybody who came along to my session at Maths Conf 33.
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Randomly Create Datasets
Warning: Very Geeky
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A Reaction to the Hayward Report
Assessment in Scotland is in need of radical reform. The Hayward report gets it spectacularly wrong.
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SMC 2023
Higher Applications – Computer Help!
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Numberblocks – Difference of Two Squares
Anybody who’s spoken to me about maths will have quickly learnt that I’m obsessed with multi-link blocks. In fact the last time I had a job interview, I inadvertently spent 15 minutes talking about them and the Cbeebies programme ‘Numberblocks’.
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Higher Apps Pre-release Data – Example Questions
The SQA have released the pre-release data for the 2023 exam.
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Pythagoras’ Theorem- A Simple Proof
I’ve often wondered what the simplest proof for the Pythagorean theorem is. By ‘simple’ I mean it contains the fewest steps, with the least amount of prerequisite knowledge.
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The Hayward Report
The Hayward interim report has been published and the brief summary is this:
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Higher Apps Project – Research Questions
You’ve given your students information about the Higher Apps project, showed them the SQA examples, and pointed them in the direction of the best sites for downloading data. But they’re struggling to come up with a research question. Maybe they’ve found a great dataset, but don’t really know how to begin. Here is some advice on getting students on the right track.
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Modelling with Music- Exploring Exponentials and Units with Brass Instruments
I’ve been thinking about brass instruments quite a bit recently. I took my daughter to a workshop by Travelling by Tuba, and it got me thinking about the lengths of various brass instruments compared with their length. A French Horn, for example, is well over 3 meters of pipe nicely wound up. There’s a clear relationship between length and pitch: the longer the instrument is, the deeper the note it makes. But is the relationship linear, or something else?
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SQA Update Project Marking Scheme
You might have noticed that the SQA have announced updates to the detailed marking instructions for the Higher Applications of Maths Project. Here I’ll point out what has changed and give some thoughts. The main thrust of the change is make things clearer for students who are working with categorical data, and I think the changes will be welcomed by teachers. Subjective Impression
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Scheme of Learning
I’ve finally got around to publishing a course plan for Higher Apps next year (which can be downloaded here.
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