Age Range: 11 to 14

Secondary Maths Lessons

Post date 18 January 2024

Developed in Partnership with Dr Frost Learning, these resources are suitable to 11-16 maths teaching (KS3 and KS4 in England), unless otherwise indicated.

Each lesson features a lesson PowerPoint as well as printable exercise and investigation sheets.

Substitution with the Four Operations and Integers

Substitution is the process of replacing the variables in an algebraic expression, usually with a numerical value. We can then work out the total value of the expression.

Climate change context

Calculating household carbon dioxide emissions

Prior Learning:

Negative numbers and arithmetic
Decimals and arithmetic
Fractions and arithmetic
Powers and roots
Basic algebraic notation
Using function machines & their inverses

Lesson ppt

Exercise pdf

Integer Substitution with Powers and Roots

Climate change contexts:

Substitution and the Sahara

Rainforest deforestation

Prior Learning

Substitution with four operations and integers
Using notation for powers and roots
Knowing powers and roots with base 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10

Lesson ppt

Exercise pdf

Substitution with Fractions and Decimals

Prior Learning

Decimals and arithmetic
Fractions and arithmetic
Powers and roots
Basic algebraic notation
Substitution using integers with the four operations
Substitution using integers with powers and roots

Lesson ppt

Exercise pdf

Investigation Sheet 1 – Wind Turbine

Investigation Sheet 2 – Wind Turbine

Form Simple Expressions

Climate Change Contexts

Arctic warming

Building insulation

Carbon footprint of social media

Emissions reductions

Prior Learning

Use and interpret algebraic notation, including:

–ab in place of a×b,

–3y in place of y+y+y and 3×y,

–a/b in place of a÷b,

–coefficients written as fractions rather than as decimals.

–brackets

Simplify expressions with sums, products and powers including index laws
Distinguish between expressions, equations, inequalities, terms and factors
Algebraic substitution
Recognise & create equivalent expressions
Order of operations

Lesson ppt

Exercise pdf

Form and Use Simple Formulae

Climate Change Contexts

Tree planting

Vehicle emission reductions

Solar panel output

Prior Knowledge

Use and interpret algebraic notation, including:

–ab in place of a×b,

–3y in place of y+y+y and 3×y,

–a/b in place of a÷b,

–coefficients written as fractions rather than as decimals.

–brackets

Simplify expressions with sums, products and powers including index laws
Distinguish between expressions, equations, inequalities, terms and factors
Algebraic substitution
Recognise & create equivalent expressions
Order of operations
Form simple expressions

Lesson ppt

Exercise pdf

Form and Solve Linear Equations from Simple Contexts

Climate Change Context

Emission reductions and net zero

Prior Knowledge

Solve simple linear equations.
Solve linear equations with brackets.
Solve linear equations where the variable appears on both sides of the equation.
Solve linear equations involving brackets.
Expanding single brackets.
Form simple expressions & formulae.
Use and interpret algebraic notation, including:

–ab in place of a×b,

–3y in place of y+y+y and 3×y,

–a/b in place of a÷b,

–coefficients written as fractions rather than as decimals.

–Brackets.

Lesson ppt

Exercise pdf

Form and Solve Linear Equations for Problems Involving Perimeter and Area

Climate Change Context

Carbon footprint/ growing food

Tree planting

Prior Knowledge

Find the area and perimeter of simple shapes.
Solve simple linear equations.
Solve linear equations where the variable appears on both sides of the equation.
Expanding single brackets.
Form simple expressions & formulae
Use and interpret algebraic notation, including:

–ab in place of a×b,

–3y in place of y+y+y and 3×y,

–a/b in place of a÷b,

–coefficients written as fractions rather than as decimals.

–Brackets

Simplify expressions with sums, products and powers including index laws
Distinguish between expressions, equations, inequalities, terms and factors
Algebraic substitution
Recognise & create equivalent expressions
Order of operations

Changing the Subject – One Step

Climate Change Context

Ocean Warming

Prior Knowledge

- Solve simple linear equations.
- Expanding single brackets.
- Form simple expressions & formulae
- Use and interpret algebraic notation, including:
–ab in place of a×b,
–3y in place of y+y+y and 3×y,
–a/b in place of a÷b,
–coefficients written as fractions rather than as decimals.
–Brackets
- Simplify expressions with sums, products and powers including index laws
- Distinguish between expressions, equations, inequalities, terms and factors
- Algebraic substitution
- Order of operations

Lesson

Exercise 1

Dr Frost Learning is a UK registered charity with goal of delivering high quality education for all individuals and institutions regardless of income, centred around the philosophy that education is a fundamental right of all and central to addressing social inequality on a global level. The charity was founded by Dr Jamie Frost and he received the Covid Hero Award in the Global Teacher Prize 2020.

Climate Change Concept Association Tool

Post date 8 January 2024

This tool is best used on a laptop or other larger screen and may not function correctly on a phone.

Scotland’s Curriculum – EVolution of vehicle sales

Post date 22 November 2023

Resource produced in collaboration with MEI

Brief overview of session ‘logic’

Explore the infographic – what can be worked out from this information and what questions does it raise?
Look at trends in vehicle registrations
Look at proportions of types of newly registered vehicles over time – why has the percentage of petrol cars being registered increased from 2015 to 2020?
Do some calculations to show that the number of petrol cars being registered has decreased from 2015 to 2020.
Reflect upon the implications for misleading representations of data
Consider the implications of the ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 – what affect will this ban have on the proportions of car types being registered?
What questions does the increase in electric vehicles raise?

Mathematical opportunities offered

Interpretation of data, statistics, graphs, infographics in context
Critiquing graphs
Reading scales
Calculating percentages
Exploring proportions of quantities over time
Making conjectures about future proportions given available data
Analysing and comparing data in order to develop and present a conclusion.

Download the resources

Scotland’s Curriculum – Trees for Net Zero

Post date 15 November 2023

Resource produced in collaboration with MEI

This resource comprises several stand-alone activities which may be used separately.

Brief overview of session ‘logic’

Why trees are good
People are planting trees – estimates around what the numbers look like in terms of land use
Some companies encourage you to offset flights by planting trees – how many trees for one flight?
How much carbon do trees capture and store?
How does the amount of carbon captured and stored by a tree change during its lifecycle?
What happens to that carbon when a tree dies?
Can you plant a tree to offset a flight?
What is Net Zero?

Mathematical opportunities offered

Estimation and proportional reasoning
Developing a sense of scale of large numbers
Interpretation of data, statistics, graphs, infographics in context
Critiquing graphs
Analysing and comparing data in order to develop and present a conclusion
Making assumptions
Making predictions
Reading scales

Download the resources

Scotland’s Curriculum Fourth Level Maths – Egypt’s Road Problem

Post date 15 November 2023

In this resource linked to COP27 in Egypt, maths students apply pythagoras’ theorem to solving Egypt’s road building conundrum.

Introduction/Motivation

The 2022 United Nations climate change conference (27th session of the Conference of Parties – COP27) will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, starting on the 7th of November.

In the introduction video screened at the end of COP26 in Glasgow, Egypt celebrates its road-building project. This resource explores efficient road designs and the climate impacts of car travel.

Resources:

PowerPoint

4 City square template

Created with support from MEI

Section 1: Lesson Introduction

Show the Egypt introduction video from COP26 and show them the pictures of new Egyptian roads.

Road-building clip only:

Or the full Egypt introductory clip: from 09:21-12:26 in https://unfccc-cop26.streamworld.de/webcast/closing-plenary-of-the-cop-followed-by-cmp-and-c-2

Ask students what comments or questions they have on the video: What do they wonder?

They could discuss in pairs or groups before giving feedback to the class.
You could steer the discussion towards some of the following points:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of building new roads?
What do you thing about building new roads compared to the other climate mitigation and adaptation projects mentioned in the video?
Roads for sustainable development: connecting cities and industry
Will a new road reduce traffic?
Building roads versus building railways/airports
How will building new roads impact greenhouse gas emissions?
Should houses be demolished to make way for new roads? https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/egypts-road-building-drive-eases-jams-leaves-some-unhappy-2021-05-14/
How should governments decide which new roads to build? How can we reduce travel time for the most people, reduce the length of the new road or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from people travelling on the road?

The remainder of the lesson uses maths to explore the last point.

Section 2: Scenario motivation for the Steiner problem

This could be introduced as motivation for the Steiner problem, or as a real world application once the problem has been solved (after section 3).

One of the new roads connects Beni Suef and Zaafarana. https://scoopempire.com/where-to-%EF%BB%BFegypt-launches-a-series-of-road-and-construction-projects-to-link-up-cities-far-and-wide/

Together with the important cities of Cairo and Suez, this can be simplified and framed as an example of the famous ‘Steiner Problem’:

Source: Google maps

Which looks a bit like:

Section 3: Steiner Problem using a Square

To simplify the problem, start by investigating 4 cities in a square. What is the most efficient way to connect all the cities (using the shortest distance of road)? You need to be able to visit all the cities on the road network, but you can go via other cities.

This problem is also described here: https://nrich.maths.org/14937

Students can use the sheet of squares (or squared paper) to draw as many different designs as they can think of, using curves and straight lines, or just straight lines.

Collect some ideas and ask students to calculate the total road distance required. For the square side length, you could use realistic road-distance numbers (eg 100km), simple numbers (eg 10, 1) or a symbol such as x. Students could first measure the distances using a ruler, then calculate them using Pythagoras’ theorem.

Help students to arrive at the optimal solution by considering the two designs below: Is there an intermediate design that would be even better?

Once students have arrived at the optimal solution, this video gives a good demonstration using soap bubbles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAyDi1aa40E

Section 4: Context Calculations

At this point you could choose to start using realistic road distances or the fact that the cities are not in a square but are closer to a rectangle (see the first extension point below).

What is the total distance of the optimal network? How long would it take to travel between each city whilst travelling at the Egyptian motorway speed limit of 100km/hr? (https://www.autoeurope.ie/driving-information-egypt)
Assume that the roads connecting Beni Suef to Cario, Cairo to Suez and Suez to Zaafarana already exist. Which one new road should be built to reduce the travel time from Beni Suef to Zaafarana? What is the reduction in travel time?
Cars emit around 120 gCO₂/km (https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/average-co2-emissions-from-motor-vehicles/assessment-1)
By how much does the new road reduce the CO₂ emissions of a journey from Beni Suef to Zaafarana?
Due to the shorter travel time, the new road might increases the number of journeys between Beni Suef and Zaafarana. How many extra journeys are needed to outweigh the decrease in emissions from the reduced distance?

Extension Ideas

Return to the introduction video at the end of the lesson. What do students think about building roads and climate change after completing the activity?
• The 4 cities in Egypt are not in a perfect square, but are close to being in a rectangle. Does this change the optimal road network? This is discussed at https://thatsmaths.com/2015/01/29/the-steiner-minimal-tree/
Students could use google maps to look at the real travel time between the 4 cities using different routes.
What happens when we consider more cities?
Can students think of other situations where this problem could apply? (gas pipelines, rail networks, broadband cables)
Think about the real-world practicalities that the Steiner solution doesn’t address. Is it the best solution if most journeys are between Cairo and Suez? Should existing roads be removed in order to build the most efficient network? Which journey times would be increased by this?

Storm Surges

Post date 28 September 2023

Watch this short animation to learn about the causes and impacts of storm surges in the UK, as well as the expected impact of climate change on them.

At the bottom of the page, you can download a Knowledge Organiser to complement the animation.

With thanks to the students and staff at Boston College for their contribution to the animation.

Isaac Physics

Post date 18 January 2023

A diverse range of questions based on applications of physics in weather and climate, including sea level rise, radar frequencies, aerosols, oceanic circulation, tidal barrages etc.

Isaac Physics is an online study tool developed by the University of Cambridge. Isaac Physics questions are self marking practice questions for secondary school and undergraduate scientists.

Snowflake fall speed

Aerosol attenuation

Barometric formula

Concentration of Oxygen

Cooling Tree

Electric Car Electrics

Electric Charge of Earth

Hadley Cell

How much Rain?

Isotrope Concentrations and Ocean Circulation

Kite Heights

Radar Reflectivity Units

Radar wavelengths and frequencies

Earth radiation balance

Sea Level Rise

Temperature Records and Uncertainties

Mass of the Atmosphere

Maths for Planet Earth

Post date 18 January 2023

Climate-based questions for students and teachers. A team of students and academics at the University of Oxford developed these Maths for Planet Earth questions.

Physics – Egypt’s Benban Solar Farm

Post date 21 September 2022

In this resource linked to COP27 in Egypt, physics students explore renewable energy production.

Learning Objectives

Recognise that solar power is a renewable energy source of great value in Egypt
Describe the energy transfer in a solar cell
Evaluate the energy dissipated in the Benban solar farm
Calculate the cost of the energy produced using the formula cost = power (kW ) x time (hours) x price (per kWh).

Motivation/Outline

In its acceptance speech at COP26, Egypt celebrated its renewable energy resources:

This is an extract from https://unfccc-cop26.streamworld.de/webcast/closing-plenary-of-the-cop-followed-by-cmp-and-c-2 from 09:20

‘Egypt transitioned from the traditional energy sources to renewable, more sustainable and planet-friendly energy sources…’

One of these resources is the huge Benban solar farm.

Lesson Introduction

Watch the relevant part of the COP26 plenary video and/ or

The Benban solar farm was supported by the Green Climate Fund. Contributions to the Green Climate Fund were one of the areas which didn’t make as much progress as was hoped at COP26 in Glasgow, 2021.
COP27 will be at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt in November 2022.

images from google maps

Discussion points:

What is a renewable energy source?
Why is it important to develop renewable energy sources?
What is a solar cell and how is it different from a solar panel? Where have people seen solar cells/ panels?
What makes a location suitable for a huge solar energy farm? (space, sunshine, access for bringing the equipment in and getting the electricity out…)
Could we build such a huge solar park in the UK? (no, we don’t have a big desert, but you could research some UK solar farms)

Use https://globalsolaratlas.info/map to compare the global horizontal irradiation where you live with that in Benban. (for Benban the value is given as 2366 kWh/m²).
Global horizontal irradiation is the total amount of solar energy reaching a 1m² horizontal surface on the ground in a year.
Discussion point: What is a kWh? (if 1 kWh is the electrical energy converted by a 1 kW appliance used for 1 hour rephrase this in terms of electrical energy generation. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z2h4dxs/revision/1 for more detail)
Discussion point: So what is a kWh/ m²?
Extension: Express this answer as a proportion or percentage
Discuss: what is the initial store of energy and by what pathways is it transferred? (nuclear store in the Sun, energy is transferred by light from the Sun to the panel and is transferred electrically from the panel to homes and businesses)
The size of the Benban solar farm is 37.2 km². Calculate the total energy carried by the light arriving at the site.
(37.2km² = 37 200 000m2 so 2366 x 37 200 000 = 88,015,200,000 kWh = 88 015.2 GWh = 88.0TWh)
Discuss: kilo, mega, giga, Tera etc.
The estimated output from Benban is 3.8TWh. How much energy is not converted usefully?
88.0-3.8 = 84.2TWh
Extension – write this as a proportion or percentage
Discussion – why so much? Solar panels don’t cover the whole of the ground, solar panels are actually less efficient when they get hot, you can see solar panels, so they must be reflecting some of the Sun’s light, not absorbing it all etc.)
What is the current electricity price in your region? (see https://www.ukpower.co.uk/home_energy/tariffs-per-unit-kwh and scroll down for regional breakdown).
What is the value of the energy the Benban solar farm will produce during COP27, which is scheduled to last 2 weeks (assume there are 52 weeks in a year)?
(cost = power (kW ) x time (hours) x price (per kWh).
So value = 3, 800, 000, 000 kWh x 2/52 x 28.34 = £41,420,000.
Discussion – is that surprising?
Why might the quantity of electricity produced actually be different? (We started with an annual value, but the seasons and the weather will actually have an impact on how much is produced in a given week).

KS3 Geography – Egypt’s Construction Problem

Post date 21 September 2022

In this resource linked to COP27 in Egypt, geography students explore population growth, urbanisation and climate change.

Introduction/Motivation

The 2022 United Nations climate change conference (27th session of the Conference of Parties – COP27) will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, starting on the 7th of November.

In the introduction video screened at the end of COP26 in Glasgow, Egypt celebrated its adaptations and mitigations to climate change. In this resource, students will explore population growth, urbanisation and the greenhouse gas emissions from the construction industry in Egypt.

Resources:

PowerPoint

Learning Outcomes

To understand what COP27 is
To describe how the population of Egypt has grown and is projected to grow in the future
To be able to interpret a population pyramid for Egypt and use that to explain Egypt’s changing population
To explain how the construction industry has an impact on the climate and what steps can be taken to reduce that impact.

Substitution with the Four Operations and Integers

Integer Substitution with Powers and Roots

Substitution with Fractions and Decimals

Form Simple Expressions

Form and Use Simple Formulae

Form and Solve Linear Equations from Simple Contexts

Form and Solve Linear Equations for Problems Involving Perimeter and Area

Changing the Subject – One Step

In this resource linked to COP27 in Egypt, maths students apply pythagoras’ theorem to solving Egypt’s road building conundrum.

Introduction/Motivation

Section 1: Lesson Introduction

Section 2: Scenario motivation for the Steiner problem

Section 3: Steiner Problem using a Square

Section 4: Context Calculations

Extension Ideas

In this resource linked to COP27 in Egypt, physics students explore renewable energy production.

Motivation/Outline

Lesson Introduction

Discussion points:

In this resource linked to COP27 in Egypt, geography students explore population growth, urbanisation and climate change.

Introduction/Motivation

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