Maths Eyes awards presented @ TU Dublin
On Thursday 2 June 2022, the shortlisted winners for the National "Have You Got Maths Eyes?" 2021 Maths Week Competition gathered at an awards ceremony in Technological University Dublin with the awards bestowed to winners, by Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD.
Over 400 young people across the island of Ireland came together to open their Maths Eyes, in this competition for Maths Week which challenged participants to look at their surroundings and the world around them in a new and creative way. A final cohort of 22 shortlisted winners was selected for their mathematical awareness and integration of maths concepts into everyday life by a judging panel which included Dr Aisling McGlinchey (Mathematics Engagement Project Coordinator in the School of Mathematical Sciences, TU Dublin).
During the presentation at the 10th year of the Maths Week Have You Got Maths Eyes? competition, Minister Foley remarked on the importance of opening your mathematical eyes to the world around you, appreciating its beauty and usefulness. The Maths Eyes team, Minister Norma Foley, and Prof James Curtin (on behalf of TU Dublin) congratulated all those awarded prizes for their commitment to developing their own maths eyes and paid tribute to the teachers, parents and guardians who supported them. The winning Maths Eyes posters will be exhibited nationwide in libraries, community centres and educational institutions throughout 2022.
The ‘Maths Eyes’ initiative was first developed by Dr Terry Maguire in 2003 to support and foster positive conversations around maths, linking education and community. The national competition developed from a successful initiative 'Looking at Tallaght with Maths Eyes' that took place in June 2011 to coincide with the 18th International Conference Adult Learning mathematics (Mathematical Eyes: A Bridge between Adults, the World and Mathematics), hosted by the (then) Institute of Technology Tallaght. In life, people often regard the mathematics they use every day as common sense and the tasks they cannot do as mathematics and the Maths Eyes initiative seeks to change that. The Have You Got Maths Eyes? competition led by Dr Terry Maguire, who recently retired from National Forum for Teaching and Learning and Ciaran O Sullivan, TU Dublin, challenges this misconception and takes place each year in partnership with Maths Week, TU Dublin and the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and Dublin West Education Centre.
In terms of ongoing work, the Maths Eyes team (in which TU Dublin is actively involved) are delighted with the recent work with the NCCA to develop resources for the new maths curriculum so that it could include a focus on using maths eyes. They are also excited about work being done at the moment to present the many resources and images that have been accumulated over the 10 years of Maths Eyes competitions into an easily searchable format on the Maths Eyes website that will help people develop their Maths Eyes in a more complete way.