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Schools across Australia are being urged to grab a free mathematics resource that makes learning fun through fiction.
Developed by QUT roboticist Associate Professor Michael Milford, the Math Thrills program hijacks the books, movies and games students love to consume to excite them about mathematical learning.
The program is being offered free to schools around Australia thanks to a $25,000 AMP Tomorrow Fund grant.
“Maths gets a bad rap for being boring even though it is so diverse that it literally underpins every aspect of our lives – our computers and phones, homes, food, clothes, even the decisions we make about which bus to catch,” said Professor Milford, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow with the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision.
“As an educator and a father, I believe scientific and mathematical literacy are important goals for our increasingly high-tech society.”
“That’s why I created Math Thrills – I want to make mathematics an exciting part of our daily consumption of movies, books, games, news and social media.”
Professor Milford, from QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty, academic is an award-winning young researcher working at the intersection of robotics, neuroscience and computer vision. The 2015 Queensland Young Tall Poppy has written innovative high-school text books for the last 15 years.
It was his experience teaching university students that prompted him to create Math Thrills.
Professor Milford hopes to initially reach 20,000 students with his resource kit.
“We really want to reach the kids who need it most – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds or rural and regional areas,” he said.
“Thanks to the AMP Foundation, we can finally do it all around Australia, without it costing anyone anything.”
The Math Thrills school pack includes five paperback copies of the teen thriller Code Bravo, written by Professor Milford and young adult writer J.C. Pollari, five illustrated study guides, e-books, 26 downloadable education worksheets and access to extensive animated online tutorials.
The pack best suits readers aged 12-18.
Schools are invited to register for their free pack through the Math Thrills website.
(Source: Queensland University of Technology)
