www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/national-competition-calls-school-children-combine-maths-and-creativity-design-their-own-online-maths-game/
Cracking the Code Challenge 1: Game Play challenges secondary schools from across the UK to participate in an online national maths competition from the 19/03/2019 until the 29/03/2019. The aim of the competition is simple - students must complete maths games and puzzles to master maths skills and win points. The top 10 schools with the most points will be awarded monetary prizes towards maths programmes at their school. The top prize is £1000.
Cracking the Code Challenge 2: Games Design challenges students aged 11 - 14 to design their own online game by applying their creativity, use of maths and collaborative problem solving skills. Finalist teams will be invited to an exciting final event in London where students will have the opportunity to present their game design ideas to a panel of judges. The winning team will be selected in June 2019 and will have their game created online with the support of Mangahigh.
Schools can register for the competition and their free 10 week membership to Mangahigh now here. Entry for the competition is free and also gains you access to over 700 engaging activities on Mangahigh including innovative games and adaptive quizzes.
Following the competition pilot, which ran in 2018, and asked students to design their own escape room using maths puzzles, 100% of teachers of finalist teams said that Cracking the Code had had a positive impact on students and 100% of student finalists reported the competition helped them see how maths can be applied usefully in a new context.
Currently the UK is not as good at maths as it should be. Maths is the foundation of learning and achievement in science, technology and engineering, yet UK teenagers came 27th in the OECD’s most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) international rankings for Maths.
Cracking the Code is a part of Nesta and Tata’s Maths Mission, a programme of activity improving UK attitudes to maths through competitions, parental engagement and peer to peer mentoring.
Kate Bower, programme manager at Nesta says, “Competitions can be a valuable way of motivating students and improving their attitudes to maths. Charlie Stripp, Director of NCETM talks about the importance of using competitions to motivate all students, not just the ‘brightest’ in his recent blog. Our pilot year evaluation report also showed how competitions that provide opportunities to apply maths in interesting contexts, and combine with other important skills like collaboration and creativity, can support improved attitudes to maths.”
Mohit Midha, CEO & CO-Founder at Mangahigh says, “We are very excited about this 2-part competition, as students will not only get to play Mangahigh’s maths games in part 1, they will use that invaluable experience to help them design their own game in part 2. The best games for us are where maths is at the heart of the game mechanic and by playing the game students develop a conceptual understanding of the underlying maths. By playing the game over and over, students develop a degree of fluency and skills which are easily transferable to pen and paper exercises. Our games Graphs of the Galaxy (Linear Equations), Transtar (Reflections, Rotations) and Wrecks Factor (Quadratic Factorisation) really show this concept in practice. We encourage students with varying abilities to form teams as, in our experience, it leads to the most creative solutions.”
Lynne Weir, Principal Teacher of Mathematics at Elgin Academy, the school which won the last round of the competition, said, “Cracking the Code was an amazing experience for the students. As the students were across different year groups it really fostered their teamwork and communication skills. It supported them to be creative, innovative and really see a different side to mathematics. The prize money from Cracking the Code will be used to set up maths masterclasses at our school, reaching out to other schools in the region, to enable more students to experience maths as a practical, useful and engaging skill.”
Tim Jones, Executive Director at Tata Limited says “Everyone, including our 65,000 employees here in the UK, use maths all the time in our everyday lives. It’s important that we instil young people with an interest in maths and confidence to explore the exciting things it can be used for. After a successful pilot programme of the Maths Mission last year, we are delighted to be working with Nesta and our IT transformation business, Tata Consultancy Services, once again to launch the second year of the Cracking the Code competition. The competition last year had a positive impact for students on their attitudes towards maths and seeing how the subject can be applied usefully. This year, the competition has become bigger and better with a 2-part challenge and we are happy to have our delivery partner Mangahigh on board to join us on this exciting journey of improving the nation’s maths skills.”
Please find a competition timeline below:
From now - Access to Mangahigh open
Schools can register online for their free 10-week membership to Mangahigh and begin preparing for the competition. Resources for Cracking the Code: Games Design will be available for schools to start using.
19/03/2019 - Cracking the Code: Game Play begins
Schools start competing online through maths puzzles and games to collect as many points as possible.
29/03/2019 - Cracking the Code: Game Play ends
Online competition closes and schools winning the most points will be awarded prizes and medals.
10/05/2019: Cracking the Code: Game Design ends
Deadline for schools to submit their game design documents online. Important: schools and students can participate in this part of Cracking the Code even if they did not participate in Part 1.
27/06/2019 Competition Final Event
Event in London where shortlisted teams will present their ideas and the winners of the competition will be announced. The winning team will have their game created online which will be shared with students and schools around the world.
-ENDS-
For more information contact Juliet Grant in Nesta’s press office on 020 7438 2668 or 07866 949047, [email protected]
Notes to editors:
About Nesta
Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833.
About Tata group
Having established Tata Limited in 1907 to represent the group in Europe, Tata now has 19 companies operating across the continent, with a combined workforce of over 65,000. These companies include: Jaguar Land Rover; Tata Steel Europe; Tata Motors; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS); Tata Global Beverages (including Tetley Tea); Tata Chemicals and Taj Hotels. European markets with a key Tata presence include; the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands
About Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.
A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 385,000 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $17.58 billion for year ended March 31, 2017 and is listed on the BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com
About Mangahigh
Mangahigh has developed one of the world’s first game-based learning (GBL) websites, where students learn mathematics and coding through creative activities that balance play and learning. Designed by a team of experienced educators and gaming experts, the adaptive platform builds individualised learning pathways for each of its users. AI further personalises this learning journey. Comprehensive data collection affords teachers a variety of summary and reporting tools, which can be used to track performance and assure adequate progression in key subject competencies. Mangahigh’s ever-growing extensive content is aligned to various international curricula in multiple languages, and this has underpinned the platform’s adoption by over 5,000 schools in 50+ countries.
