Prize Competition and Opportunities for Schools
Are you between 11 and 19 and attending school in the UK or Ireland? Do you know someone who is? The annual British Society for the History of Mathematics Schools Prize in the History of Mathematics is currently open for applications! If you win, there is a cash prize.
To apply, you need to come up with a project on an area of ethnomathematics. This should be a topic related to the mathematical ideas of a community that is not generally represented in maths. That could be related to Bushoong, Inuit, Kpelle, Māori or many other communities. You could look at activities with algorithmic or geometric characteristics such as weaving, games, construction, ritual… Previous winners did projects on: ancient number systems (Naima Mohamud), African hair braiding (Kiara Kimera), Origami (Tulasi Shah), Polynesian tattoos (Eden Ainsworth), and Ethiopian calendars (Junias Lee).
Photo by Philip Nalangan, shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Your project can take any form! It could be a short film, a presentation, a podcast, a song, a painting, an essay, a craft… There are two age categories: 11-15 and 16-19. Two people will be awarded first place in each category and they will win £150. There can be multiple runners-up, who will win £50 each.
The deadline is Friday 19th June. Full details of the competition can be found on the BSHM website.
If a competition feels a bit too much at the moment, you may also be interested in the BSHM’s programme of free lectures for schools. The BSHM has three professional mathematicians who work as History of Maths in Education (HiMEd) lecturers. Any school across the country can contact them to ask them to give a free lecture to students. The lecturers will also prepare digital resources to help promote the history of mathematics in schools. If you would like to know more about this or contact the lecturers, see the HiMEd page.