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Paul Rowlandson

@drrowlandson.bsky.social
300 followers 247 following 44 posts

15 years teaching secondary school mathematics. Works across multiple roles in teacher development. Blog - ponderingplanning.wordpress.com/con… All views I express here are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers.

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Reposted by Paul Rowlandson
Jonathan Hall @studymaths.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Here you go @nathanday.bsky.social! mathsbot.com/puzzles/prim...
mathsbot.com
Prime Factory!
Prime Factor! A different way to practise your times tables.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Thanks! I'm really pleased your colleagues found it useful.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about following up worked examples by asking "What would happen to the answer if I changed the question slightly?" Here's another example of this from the blog. wp.me/p9t8DE-s8 #Mathschat #MTBoS #iTeachMaths #Maths
Initial question:

Find the mean, median, mode and range for the dataset:

12, 13, 14, 17, 17, 19, 20 

Answers:
mean = 16,      median = 17,      mode = 17,      range = 8

What would happen if I changed the question?
What would happen if we increased the last number by 1 (20 to 21)?
Which summary statistics would change? Why?
Which summary statistics would stay the same? Why?
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Jonathan Hall @studymaths.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
UPDATE: I've just added a pen overlay tool to the Algebra Tiles. It needs a bit of tweaking (rubber tool etc) and once I'm happy I'll roll it out to the rest of the manipulatives. mathsbot.com/manipulative...
A screenshot of the Algebra Tiles tool with the new pen overlay being used. In this case to complete the square.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
New blog post - Explores one of my favourite questions to ask after finishing a worked example: What would happen if I changed the question? wp.me/p9t8DE-s8 #mathschat #MTBoS #ukmathschat #iTeachMaths
wp.me
What Would Happen if I Changed the Question?
After completing a worked example on the board, one of my favourite questions to ask is, “What would happen if I changed the question?” More specifically, point to a number or term within the quest…
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Reposted by Paul Rowlandson
Jonathan Hall @studymaths.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I was reminded of this task by @morrismaths359.bsky.social earlier this week. It's one of my favourites, so I've recorded a quick video to demonstrate how you can model a solution using prime factor tiles. Video in the next post...but first here's the task.
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Fill the blanks with the numbers above to make the calculation correct. One number is not used.

__ × __ × __ × __ = __ × __ × __ × __
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Catriona Agg @catrionaagg.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This is a great blog, and there’s even a whole resource of example questions - from multiple topics - to download at the end! Has anyone else used this idea? What examples did you use, and what changes did you consider?
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
New blog post - Explores one of my favourite questions to ask after finishing a worked example: What would happen if I changed the question? wp.me/p9t8DE-s8 #mathschat #MTBoS #ukmathschat #iTeachMaths
wp.me
What Would Happen if I Changed the Question?
After completing a worked example on the board, one of my favourite questions to ask is, “What would happen if I changed the question?” More specifically, point to a number or term within the quest…
22013
Reposted by Paul Rowlandson
Jo Morgan @mathsjem.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
New! My 202nd gems post. Ideas, updates and resources for maths teachers. 💎 www.resourceaholic.com/2026/08/5-ma... #ukmathschat
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Jo Morgan @mathsjem.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
New! My 200th gems post. Ideas, updates and resources for maths teachers. 💎 www.resourceaholic.com/2026/07/5-ma... #mathstoday #ukmathschat #alevelmaths
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
When working at @meimaths.bsky.social as a resource writer for @oaknational.bsky.social, I enjoyed exploring the Office of National Statistics for large real life data sets. This article shares ideas for using data about Local Authorities in England and Wales during lessons about scatter graphs.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Really pleased to have an article included in the latest issue of 'Mathematics in Schools' by @amiemathematics.bsky.social m-a.org.uk/mathematics-...
Front cover for journal 'Mathematics in School', Vol 55, No. 3, May 2026.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Just been catching up with some Winter Olympics curling. It was fun to see how the referees determine close call decisions by using the same method as KS3 students do in this task about constructions on @oaknational.bsky.social #mathstoday #mathschat
A screen shot of a curling match at the Winter Olympics. The end has finished with two red stones and one yellow stone that appear almost equidistant from the centre of the circle. The referee is trying to determine whether each of the red stones is closer to the centre than the yellow stone. There is a measuring rod attached to the centre of the circle, with a marker set to the inner edge of the yellow stone. The referee will pivot the rod around the centre of the circle to see whether the marker touches each of yhe two red stones.A screenshot of a maths task. There is a cross on the page with ten points marked around it, each a similar distance from the cross. The question says:

Aisha marks a cross on a piece of paper and marks a point exactly 5 units away from it. She asks everyone else to mark a point 5 units away from the cross.
a) How could you use a pair of compasses to check whether everyone's point is the correct distance away from the cross?
b) Whose point is too close to the cross?
c) Whose point is too far from the cross?
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Jo Morgan @mathsjem.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
New! My 193rd gems post. Ideas, resources and updates for maths teachers. 💎 www.resourceaholic.com/2025/10/5-ma... Hat tips to follow. #mathstoday #ukmathschat
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Another plug for my latest post 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 #EduSky #MathsChat #iTeachMaths
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
'We' like the look of that!
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Katie Steckles @steckl.es · 18/10/2025
Excitingly, Today's the opening day of MathsWorld, the new hands-on maths museum in London. I've really enjoyed visiting MathsCity in Leeds, but they've now got a London location too! Details at mathsworld.com
mathsworld.com
MathsWorld – London’s new Museum of Mathematics
MathsWorld is an interactive museum in London with innovative hands-on exhibits that explore the beauty, wonder, and everyday relevance of mathematics for visitors of all ages.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
If that doesn't find us over Christmas, I'll get it myself!
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
When you're a maths teacher with a baby, your friends know what to buy for them.
Two children's books: 'Under the Sea 1, 2, 3' by Frané Lessac and 'Pythagorean Theorem for Babies' by Chris Ferrie and Mike Ziniti.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
New blog post: 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors' Looks at an approach for teaching compass and ruler constructions by using GeoGebra to support understanding. wp.me/p9t8DE-r0 #UKMathsChat #Mathsky
wp.me
Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors
This blog post explores how GeoGebra (or other dynamic geometry software) can support the teaching of compass and ruler constructions. In particular, I’ll be reflecting on how my approach to teachi…
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Latest blog post: 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors' looks at teaching compass and ruler constructions for undertanding by breaking it down into small steps. 🔗 wp.me/p9t8DE-r0 #EduSky #Mathschat #MathSky
A horizontal line with six perpendicular lines. There is a large arc made from placing a compass at the right edge of the horizontal line. There are six arcs of increasing size, made from placing a compass at the left edge of the horizontal line.
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
New blog post: 'Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors' Looks at an approach for teaching compass and ruler constructions by using GeoGebra to support understanding. wp.me/p9t8DE-r0 #UKMathsChat #Mathsky
wp.me
Thinking About Perpendicular Bisectors
This blog post explores how GeoGebra (or other dynamic geometry software) can support the teaching of compass and ruler constructions. In particular, I’ll be reflecting on how my approach to teachi…
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Reposted by Paul Rowlandson
Dan Draper @dandraper.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
#MathsToday Teaching histograms to year 11 this week and returned to @drrowlandson.bsky.social’s amazing planning series to start. So much deep thought and insight in every post! 🙌 ponderingplanning.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/f...
ponderingplanning.wordpress.com
Filling in the Gaps With Histograms
This blog posts focuses on the sorts of histograms that students see in GCSE Mathematics: histograms with unequal class intervals and where the heights of the bars represent frequency density.&nbsp…
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NCETM @ncetm.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Non-specialist maths teachers! 🎥 See how the Non-specialist SKTM Programme could boost your confidence & improve your teaching! 💵 Schools joining the 2025/26 @theeef.bsky.social trial get £500–£1000! 💻 Online cohort available ⏰ Apply by 12 September bit.ly/4lRxAoW #Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat
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NCETM @ncetm.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
🎞️ They don’t seek the spotlight, but they shape the future of maths every day. As another academic year ends, we want to celebrate EVERYONE across the 40 Maths Hubs who has worked tirelessly to make the programme a continuing success 👏 #Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
I made a little training booklet a few years ago, which I used for a couple of CPD sessions about GeoGebra. Feel free to switch out the front page and use. drive.google.com/file/d/1a6PN...
drive.google.com
Geogebra Training Booklet.pdf
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Jo Morgan @mathsjem.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
New post! 'Conferences and Catching Up'. A write up of the events I've attended in the last couple of weeks and a summary of the current talking points in maths education. www.resourceaholic.com/2025/07/conf... #ukmathschat #mathstoday #meiconf2025
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Nathan Day @nathanday.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Calling all Maths teachers! What are some of your all-time great tasks for secondary Maths? Ones that could have their place in any curriculum, one that should be studied in PGCE courses, ones that started whole new genres of tasks... ... or just ones you really like. (see some of mine below)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Any schools don't have a full maths department for September or have teachers from other subjects teaching maths might find the programme below helpful. 👇🏻 It's fully funded training for non-specialist teachers of maths, supporting them to teach maths confidently and in depth. #ukmathschat
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Dr. Jen Shearman @jenshearman.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Over the last couple of months I have been watching - Expertly designed and led PD - With out-of-field maths teachers 'growing' their identity as mathematician, - Become even better at teaching students who need maths teachers the most. So important that these programmes externally evaluated. (1/n)
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Catriona Agg @catrionaagg.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Properties of quadrilaterals with Y8. They sort of know this all already but it still always seems like a bit of a slog! Today we did everything on this hierarchical diagram rather than as a list, which I hope made it seem more logical. #MathsToday
A diagram with the names of quadrilaterals and arrows showing which are special cases of the others. 
Red annotations show properties relating to parallel sides. The same basic diagram, with annotations in purple to show properties relating to equal length sides. The same basic diagram, with annotations in blue to show properties relating to angles.
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NCETM @ncetm.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
With around 1 in 8 KS3 maths lessons being taught by non-specialists, it's vital we support them 📹 Step inside a real Work Group to hear how Maths Hubs are helping non-specialist teachers thrive #Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTk5...
youtube.com
Boost your confidence teaching maths | Secondary Non-specialist SKTM Programme
YouTube video by NCETM
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Dr. Jen Shearman @jenshearman.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
The @ncetm.bsky.social has a fabulous #SKTMSecondaryNonSpecialistTeacherProgramme for anyone teaching mathematics outside of their specialism. This video featuring @kandmmathshub.bsky.social captures it perfectly. @j9allen.bsky.social @garethshadick.bsky.social www.ncetm.org.uk/news/inside-...
ncetm.org.uk
Inside the Secondary Non-specialist Teachers SKTM Programme
A fully-funded CPD opportunity designed to support non-specialist teachers of maths
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NCETM @ncetm.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Teaching maths without a specialist background? You’re not alone. 🎥 In our new video, teachers explain how the Secondary Non-specialist Teachers SKTM Programme has boosted their classroom confidence (and more!) #Maths #EduSky #UKMathsChat
youtube.com
Boost your confidence teaching maths | Secondary Non-specialist SKTM Programme
YouTube video by NCETM
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
That's wonderful news! Best of luck!
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Claire Clay @cclay8.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Last year I made this power point it shows the key calculator buttons on the two Casio’s new and old next to each other. Might be useful in the coming week. docs.google.com/presentation...
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Catriona Agg @catrionaagg.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
More Y9 trig #MathsToday: we ditched the tables in favour of drawing multipliers directly onto the triangles. This lesson went pretty well! Still just using sin and cos, and today I kept everything in one orientation as well.
Three triangles, with working in a ratio table to find a missing length. The same three triangles and answers with the tables removed, and the title How might we skip the table?The reference triangle with multipliers drawn on: x sin(a) goes from the hypotenuse of 1 to the opposite of sin(a), and x cos(a) goes from the hypotenuse of 1 to the adjacent of cos(a).Four questions that have been solved by drawing multipliers onto the triangles
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MathsCity Leeds @mathscityleeds.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We’re celebrating National Numeracy Day in style with the installation of new exhibits in our Code Breaking and Our Chaotic Earth collections! Be the first to see them this May half term alongside our curve stitching activities! #NationalNumeracyDay
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
I hope people find these papers interesting and useful! 🙂 (n/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
This paper is behind a paywall, so you might not be able to access it without a university account (sorry). But the first paper in this thread (which is open access) summarises the research and discusses its findings. (13/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
The 'exposition' group was also similar to the others for most measures, however one result suggests that these participants seem more likely to have categorised the images by identifying defining features rather than based on visual impressions. (12/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
In all measures, no significant difference was found between results for the 'blocking' group and 'interleaving' group. (11/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
One group of participants saw a set of examples for each category presented in a blocked sequence, another group saw the same examples in an interleaved sequence. A third group was also included, who only saw a single example of each category, accompanied by exposition. (10/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
During the experiment, participants learned to recognise relationships between pairs of angles on parallel lines (corresponding, alternate, co-interior). They were assessed on their ability to categorise diagrams, complete diagrams and describe 'co-interior' angles in words. (9/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
The paper reports on a pair of experiments that attempted to replicate the direct interleaving effects found in lab research, but with secondary school pupils and using mathematical categories. (8/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Lots of the previous interleaving research that had found direct effects of mixing were lab experiments focusing on participants learning to categorise information (e.g. matching images of paintings to the names of their artists). (7/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
The lit review suggests that a lot of the previous research about interleaving in mathematics has shown the effects of spacing multiple topics simultaneously, rather than showing direct effects of mixing those topics together. (6/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
The other paper gives a more detailed report of our own empirical research about interleaving in secondary school mathematics. (5/n) pubs.nctm.org/view/journal...
pubs.nctm.org
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Therefore, any changes to these specifics could affect the effectiveness of the strategy - which is what was observed in our own research about interleaving. The paper includes recommendations about how edu research can be used for enhancing knowledge, rather than for replicating strategies. (4/n)
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Paul Rowlandson @drrowlandson.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
It uses interleaving as a case to show how edu research can be far more nuanced than the headline results. Eg when a strategy is found to be effective in a lab experiment, its success might be related to a very specific outcome, achieved in a very specific way and in very specific conditions. (3/n)
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