'Real-life' lessons used in maths

Many are turned off maths in their early secondary years

Football, fashion and the Olympics are being used in new "real-life" lesson plans intended to keep England's teenagers interested in maths.

The government acknowledges "major problems" in the early teen years.

It is matching £2m from the Bowland young people's charity to devise new ideas for teachers of the age group.

Meanwhile, chemists from Leicester University are dressing up as Hogwarts characters to show primary school pupils the subject can be fun.

In a speech on Tuesday, Education Secretary Alan Johnson said the maths innovation programme would try to tackle problems at Key Stage 3 - the first three years of secondary school.

This was identified as a "vital stage" in the scathing review of maths which the government commissioned from Professor Adrian Smith, principal of Queen Mary, University of London.

Knock-on effect

"If they do lose interest then, they may never pick up a maths book again," says Mr Johnson - even though maths is a compulsory part of the national curriculum to the age of 16.

It had a knock-on effect, he said, resulting in England's having relatively few maths A-level students and graduates compared with similar nations.

It's a kind of magic ... [Photo: Leicester University]

That, in turn, damaged the nation's competitiveness, Mr Johnson said - and made it harder to find maths teachers in future.

"The programme aims to snip this problem in the bud, giving teachers new and innovative ways to engage with pupils."

The intention is to devise problems based on things likely to appeal to pupils, such as fashion, football or the Olympics.

Science similarly struggles to retain youngsters' interest.

We are trying to get a big spark of interest going Dr Jonny Woodward University of Leicester

In an effort to counter this, Leicester University's chemistry department has transformed part of the campus this week into Hogwarts, the school in the Harry Potter books.

Dr Jonny Woodward is putting on a "Gryffindor gown" to become Harry while Dr Paul Jenkins dresses up as the headmaster, Prof Albus Dumbledore, and Mrs Tracy McGhie is transfigured into Prof Minerva McGonagall.

They are going to be showing about 1,000 pupils from East Midlands primary schools how to make coloured flames, grow crystals, turn solids into liquids and produce light.

"What we are trying to do is to show them how much fun chemistry can be," Dr Woodward said.

"We are trying to get a big spark of interest going before they get to secondary school."