The Magic Mathworks Travelling Circus

Since 1989 around 300,000 children and 20,000 teachers across 9 countries have experienced The Magic Mathworks Travelling Circus, a travelling hands-on maths exhibition for schools, museums and discovery centres which demonstrates and explores a multisensory approach to the learning of mathematics.

“A multisensory approach to the learning of maths is not commonly taken in the UK – in fact, a multisensory mathematics curriculum is only currently taught in the early years (Foundation Stage),” comments Paul Stephenson, founder, operations director and company secretary of the touring maths lab.

He continues: “But through the multisensory environment of the maths lab, I hope we’re beginning to show teachers and others the benefits to children of learning in this way. We hope that the teachers watching their pupils, often completely immersed in the tasks they undertake in the Circus, find ideas to incorporate more permanently in their own curricula.”

An example of such a task in the travelling circus is the concept of a ‘common multiple’, investigated through the use of chime bars, gear wheels, mathematical balances and OHP overlays. A typical visit from the Travelling Circus is likely to take place in a school hall, either for the use of one school across all years for anything from one day to one week or indeed for multiple schools coaching in pupils from the surrounding area.

“It was a tremendous success, both with our pupils and those of visiting schools,” says the Head of one such school. “Thank you for your circus which has engendered renewed enthusiasm for maths in the children.”

Another teacher comments: “It’s been a good kicking-off point. We will now build on the ideas and the techniques … and use them in our own classroom teaching.”

The Circus is further backed up by a website with a set of interactivities (available both on-line and via CD-ROM) - the Virtual Circus- to complement the real one.