Science Centres putting the M in STEM

What colour is maths? How is maths used to navigate our world? And how can statistics and data analysis improve the performance of athletes? For World Science Day (10 November) we’ve rounded up some of our favourite activities at science centres across Scotland during this year's Maths Week Scotland.

Glasgow Science Centre

Art-based community workshops

Glasgow Science Centre were very busy this year, delivering ten community maths workshops during Maths Week Scotland and the following week. The workshops covered tangram shapes, rangoli patterns, and designs inspired by the golden ratio of the Fibonacci sequence.

What colour is maths?

Visitors to Glasgow Science Centre could contribute to an art piece by deciding which colour they thought maths was and adding a dot to the wooden triangle. Triangles were also at Aberdeen Science Centre (see below), the National Museum of Scotland, and various schools throughout the region. All the triangles will be brought together to create a Sierpinski triangle art piece as a permanent display at Glasgow Science Centre.

The dots will be counted and one colour declared the winner by the end of November, so keep an eye on Glasgow Science Centre's Twitter channel for the results!

Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh

Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh opened their doors for a free family drop-in day all around the theme of navigation, to give a taster of their Dino’s Club - Dynamic Earth’s very own children’s club for young people under 14. Offering a unique combination of science and craft, digital tinkering, storytelling and outdoor adventures, the club is perfect for everyone!

>> Find out more about Dino's Club

The 'Nifty Navigation' drop-in followed on nicely from the 'Navigating Our World' schools workshop developed by the Learning and Engagement Team at Dynamic Earth as part of last year's Maths Week Scotland, which is still available as an ongoing resource.

>> Access 'Navigating Our World' resource

Aberdeen Science Centre

Aberdeen Science Centre had a very busy Maths Week Scotland too. Throughout the week, they hosted a series of workshops for school pupils to explore patterns and symmetries in shapes in sounds, and create their own patterns, including Primary 6 pupils from pupils at St Joseph’s School who were interviewed by The Press & Journal about their visit. Schools also explored the exhibits with signs and staff helping them find the maths in their activities.

“With maths, you can learn and have fun at the same time. You can play and do fun activities, it doesn’t have to be just doing sums in your jotter. It challenges your brain a lot.” (Tommy)

Families could visit an exhibition of environmental data artwork by Rebecca J Kaye, and children under 6 had the chance to explore all things math through activities in a special mini sports day.

Whilst at an evening event for visitors aged 14 and over, elite sport performance coach Bob Lyons shared some insights into how he uses statistics and data analysis to improve the performance of his athletes, with the opportunity to explore the centre's 60+ exhibits and take part in different activities investigating the real-life applications of statistics.