Overview: The Maths Eyes Project was carried out in Ballyfermot Dominican Campus schools with the aim of developing ‘Maths Eyes’ in students, parents, and teachers to find real-life maths in the Ballyfermot Community. The project was inspired by Dr Terry Maguire from IT Tallaght, who developed the idea of Maths Eyes to build confidence in maths among all members of the community. The project was carried out by 3rd class students from primary schools, Transition Year students from secondary schools, and parents, teachers, and Home School Liaison Coordinators.
Implementation: Ciaran O’Sullivan from IT Tallaght came to talk to the students about opening their Maths Eyes, and the participants went out into the community to explore if there was evidence of maths. They took hundreds of pictures of maths around them and selected the best pictures. They came up with captions and maths descriptions for each poster.
The participants invited parents, students, teachers, and representatives from schools and organizations in the Ballyfermot community, national organizations, and IT Tallaght to a showcase of their Maths Eyes Project. The final 27 posters were submitted to the national Maths Eyes competition.
Impact: The project team plans to share their learning experience with other schools in the community and use their posters as a learning resource with other students within the schools. The TY students in St. Dominic’s will work with first years to develop their maths eyes, and they plan to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention. The children from the three third classes will share the successes of this project with their whole school, and the posters were uploaded on the shared network in the three schools so that they can be used as a resource for teaching mental maths on a daily basis.
Conclusion: The Maths Eyes Project was successful in developing the maths skills and confidence of students, parents, and teachers in the Ballyfermot community. The project team plans to continue its efforts to encourage students to use maths in their daily lives and to spread the Maths Eyes idea to other schools in the community.