MATHS IN THE PAPERS September 2002

Odd Numbers
Statistics

Only 65% of Miss Americas are genuine blonds.

65% of US wealth is owned by women.

78% of UK women are unhappy if a man pays for dinner.

90% of UK women expect men to hold open a door for them.

80% of UK residents expect to hear bad language in public. 98% are unhappy about it.

There are 117,500 stray dogs in Britain.

Observer magazine 1/9/02

Report on prison education spending
Crime, education

The Commons' public accounts committee has called prison spending on education, sometimes as low as £205 per head a year, 'totally unsatisfactory'. The cross-party committee called for more emphasis on raising standards of literacy and numeracy to give inmates a better chance of finding work on release from prison. The report draws attention to the fact that the prisoners most likely to re-offend are young and serving short sentences, and points out that more resources should be directed at this group. Currently, many prison service education programmes are designed for longer term prisoners. Paul Cavadino, chief executive of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders said: " The facts speak for themselves. Research shows that prisoners released with a job are half as likely to reoffend as unemployed ex-prisoners. " Prisoners who are released into stable accommodation reduces the likelihood of them reoffending by one fifth, while prisoners who have had education in literacy and numeracy reoffend at one third the rate of those who have not.

Guardian 5/09/02

Demand for unskilled workers falls
Business, education

According to the CBI's annual survey of employment trends, one in three firms plans to recruit fewer workers with no qualifications over the next three years. Demand for graduates is growing rapidly, but the future looks grim for Britain's six million unskilled workers. Two thirds of jobs now require qualifications. As a result of this only one in three unskilled workers has a job. Businesses are also unhappy with poor levels of literacy and numeracy and spent nearly £24bn last year making up for school deficiencies.

Guardian 9/9/02

September 11^th – One year on.
Documentary

The remarkable documentary about the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre broadcast on BBC1 last night has raised millions of pounds for the families of New York fire fighters who died helping people to escape the twin towers. Jules and Gedeon Naudet's harrowing film, 9/11, was broadcast in 142 countries around the world last night on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. Some of the money raised from the sale of the documentary around the world is being donated to the Uniformed Firefighters Association Scholarship Fund, which was set up to help relatives of firemen who died. The documentary was broadcast by CBS in the US in March on the six-month anniversary of the attacks.

Guardian 12/9/02

Internet use on September 11^th
Internet

Google, the internet search engine, has published figures for September 11^th 2001. Among the top 200 queries, news-related searches were 60 times greater than for the previous day. Over 80% of the top 500 queries that day were related to terrorist attacks. At 6.51 am on September 11^th more than 6,200 queries for cnn were conducted. Between 6.26 am and 7.06am, the number of searches for cnn averaged 6,000 queries per minute.

BBC News 4/9/02

Ground zero, the site where the World Trade Centre was situated
Tourism

BBC News 4/9/02

Maths lessons focus on African textiles
Education, Teaching resources, Africa

Dympna McGahern, co-ordinator for ethnic minority achievement at Hornsey School for Girls, North London, and maths teacher David Kaplan, have created a series of key stage 3 maths lessons based on African fabrics and pattern making. Hornsey school's students have a strong ethnic mix, with 11% from refugee communities and 16% of African heritage. 60% of students are bilingual. McGahern is keen to challenge ethnocentricity in the national curriculum and to introduce practical teaching that relates to real life situations. The Hornsey project, which stemmed from an exhibition of African art, uses cultural artefacts to create lessons. Worksheets incorporate photocopies of decorative designs ranging from mats to mosaics and these are used in lessons on symmetry, rotational symmetry etc. The lessons gave a high profile to African heritage students and re-inforced cross-curricular links.

TES Teacher 13/09/02

Odd Numbers
Statistics, Children, finance

British home-owners owe an average of £53,950 on their mortgage.

A case of Chateau Margaux that cost £400 in 1991 is now worth £3,300.

Hazel trees flowered 23 days earlier this year than in 2001.

9m Britons regularly work out at a gym or health club.

The average child laughs 400 times a day.

The average adult laughs 15 times a day.

85% of children can spell Hogwarts correctly

32% of children can spell Shakespeare correctly.

Observer Magazine 15/9/02

Government suggests Thinking Skills to boost test results
Education

As literacy and numeracy targets prove unattainable, Government ministers are looking for new initiatives. Test results for 11-year-olds are expected next week. The results are expected to show a rise in standards, but a failure to meet government targets set by David Blunkett, which predict 805 of pupils reaching level 4 in English and 75% reaching level 4 in maths. Teachers are unhappy with 'totally unrealistic' targets for 2004 which expect 85% of students to attain level 4 in both English and maths, and headteachers claim that many schools have gone as far as they can. One suggestion is to incorporate teaching Thinking Skills. The government has already funded an international thinking skills conference this summer and the techniques play a large part in the new key stage 3 strategy designed to raise achievement in secondary schools.

TES Archive 20/9/02

Maths support for engineering students
Education, Engineering