Outreach information for 2023-2024

Outreach information for 2023-2024

The UCC Mathematics Enrichment Programme will start on 7th October 2023 in Western Gateway Building, UCC. Please use the registration link:

Registration for the 2023-2024 Mathematics Enrichment Programme.

Please make sure to check the options and events below. 

The UCC School of Mathematical Sciences in partnership with the Irish Mathematical Trust offers extra-curricular activities for young students of all ages:

-  Junior Mathematics Enrichment: A set of free, weekly maths classes run on Saturday mornings at 10-11:30 starting on 7^th Oct, for 2nd - 3rd year secondary school students (and occasionally 1st-year students with advanced mathematical abilities). Participants work in a relaxed environment with college students as well as professional mathematicians and meet new ideas and skills, which we hope will deepen their interest in the subject. The programme involves a lot of teamwork including team quiz competitions. Students learn through problem-solving related to games like Sets, Dominoes, Mind-reading games and others.

- Intermediate and Senior Maths Enrichment: A set of free, weekly maths classes run on Saturday mornings at 10 am-1pm starting on 7^th Oct, for TY (Intermediate) and 5th/6th (Senior) students. Here, students are shown deeper and more challenging maths than that seen on the school syllabus and are induced to develop a love of maths and its fun side. Emphasis is placed on creative thinking and problem-solving skills, with the aim of making already talented students more mathematically-minded. The classes also act as practise and training for mathematical Olympiads, the qualifiers for which are run through the classes.

- Maths Circles for Primary Schools and beginning Junior Cycle students: While there are no Saturday classes for younger students in primary school or starting Junior Certificate, we support the setting up Maths Circles within the children’s schools. Maths Circles are lunchtime or after-school maths clubs where students explore various mathematical topics with a focus on play and creative problem-solving. Students learn how maths is at the heart of almost everything including origami, seashells and card tricks. Topics covered in the past include sets, graph theory, tessellation, infinite sequences and series, combinatorics and probability. Over 60 hours of activities for lessons have been developed and are available at the Maths Circles homepage. Parents and students are encouraged to talk to teachers about setting up Maths Circles in their schools. Teachers can avail of support from TY students who have attended a week-long workshop in UCC (see TY Work Experience below) and can find here a complete guide for setting up a Maths Circle.

- Resources geared more towards individual study can be found on the IMT Resource Page.

TY Work Experience:

The School of Mathematical Sciences is planning to run its annual TY work experience programme during the week of 22-26 January 2024, if conditions allow. Please register your interest here: Registration Form.

Due to uncertainty about the evolution of the epidemiological situation and social distancing rules, we regret that we may not be able to guarantee a place to all registered students. Places will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

The TY Work Experience in Mathematics offers participants the opportunity to experience UCC through a variety of activities:

- To attend undergraduate lectures in mathematics and related area;

-  To work on small research projects in dedicated research workshops. 

- To acquire teaching skills in purpose-designed workshops. In these workshops, participants will be divided into teams and practice leading a 10-15 min class based on resources we provided. At the end they participate in a tournament to decide on the best teams based on the participants’ feedback.

Upon graduation of the one week training, participants receive a Teaching Diploma and resource materials which enable them to work as tutors for maths circles for the younger 1st year students in the school, or for primary school students in nearby schools. Maths circles are lunchtime or after-school weekly maths clubs based on our teaching materials, and are typically run by a teacher with the help of tutors. Working as a tutor for younger students in maths circles can also serve to fulfil the community involvement requirement of the Gaisce's President Award.

Alcumus Invitation.

Please register to our Problem-Solving class on the interactive learning platform Alcumus (please use your full name as ID) Registration links: Juniors class here and TY/Seniors class here. After registration, you can always login on to the Alcumus platform here.  There you will be able to work on problems on 4 main topics: Algebra, Number Theory, Combinatorics and Geometry. You may set your preferred topic/difficulty level at any time. After attempting each problem you will be able to read detailed solutions and also to access videos on the topic at hand, and thus learn new ideas and methods. We will monitor your performance and, depending on progress, award participation diplomas/achievement diplomas.  Please don't forget to also register to our the UCC Maths Enrichment mailing list for Achievement Award diplomas.