How are dance and mathematics linked? Can using mathematics save disappearing species? And would a zombie attack help in stopping the spread of diseases like swine flu? Answers to all these questions can be found on the new IMA MathsCareers website, to be launched on 1 December 2009.
Maths Careers provides a single starting point for young people aged from 11–19 to find out where maths and statistics can lead, whatever their level. It aims to help them associate maths with the real world and features a wide range of people using maths in their work, from theatre design to climate change modelling and designing computer games, along with clear links to finding out more about these careers.
The site will be launched by Kate Bellingham, the National STEM Careers Coordinator at an event hosted by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics at The East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham. Kate is a qualified maths teacher (as well as being an engineer and a TV presenter) so she understands the importance of this new resource.
“This website shows young people that keeping up their studies in maths will open so many doors to them career-wise,” Ms Bellingham explained. “The more maths they have, the more job opportunities will be available to them. Mathematics and statistics are not just useful for finance and teaching – they are vital to the games industry, the music business, product design, tackling climate change, developing healthcare and many many more areas that young people may never have realised relied heavily on maths.”
The new site is managed by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) on behalf of the maths and statistics community, and contains much more than the importance and relevance of maths in careers.
Launching the site, David Youdan, Executive Director of IMA commented, “Maths helps us to make useful and creative career choices. It teaches us to be logical and numerate, to solve problems, to understand shapes and to use data. Without maths we miss so many opportunities. Most young people study maths to the age of 16, but ask them how maths might lead them to a valuable, interesting and often well-paid career and their responses are sometimes predictable – medicine, accountancy, teaching and engineering are obvious mathematical related careers, or they might just say ‘maths is not for me…. ‘ We’re hoping this website will help to open and change their minds.”
The site has themes including Environment, Health & Society, Business & Money, Entertainment, Science & Technology and Sport. Each theme is divided into age groups, with a range of regularly changing topical articles to enthuse and excite young people about maths in the world around us.
There are also sections for teachers and careers advisers with a wide range of downloadable resources and maths activities and quizzes, together with links to other great resources – all suitable for use in the classroom or at home to enthuse and inform about maths.
Undergraduates and mathematicians are also catered for with material showing the beauty and elegance of maths, with a bit of added humour. As the philosopher Roger Bacon said, ‘For the things of this world cannot be made known without knowledge of mathematics’.
CONTACT
- The Maths Careers website is run by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) and is a joint venture with the London Mathematical Society (LMS) and the Royal Statistical Society (RSS).
- Enquiries about the site should be sent to mathscareers@ima.org.uk or David Youdan on 07974 436793.
- This new website is a sister site to the Future Morph website hosted by the Science Council (www.futuremorph.org ) and is part of the DCSF STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths) Subject Choice and Careers Campaign. You can email stemcareers@shu.ac.uk or telephone 0114 225 4870 for further information about the STEM Careers campaign.
