Based on the example above where it is piecewise, presumably I could have something like dy/dx=sin(x) for x<0 and dy/dx=e^x for x>0, and I wouldn’t expect the solutions to the two parts to be connected. Not sure if I’m missing the point (well, deliberately missing x=0)

I think the E means ‘exam style’ rather than necessarily a past paper question. I also think some of the mark allocations for those E questions are decidedly dubious!

No worries, thanks for reposting - I’ve got them now

Are the AQA L2 FM 2025 markschemes available to teachers yet? I have an AQA login but can’t find them anywhere, a friend has asked me to look at her kids papers (couple of marks off a 9). Wondering if @themathsbazaar.bsky.social might have access to them? Thanks in advance!

I’m now thinking the train could have been at a constant speed on a hill (perhaps it would need to be a mountain railway), and now thinking about power questions!!

Thank you!

Thanks for this - sent this on to my y13s who are on study leave, a couple have asked if you might have solutions yet (written is fine rather than video). Thanks

Expanding and factorising algebraic expressions uses a grid method

This is some working from an online session the other day, hopefully seeing it static rather than written live and explained still makes sense.

Yes, for me one of the things I love most about maths is connections and I think I’ve learnt about so many more because of teaching.

Will share something about ac when I get a minute (maybe not for a day or two!) - sorting kids for Cub/scout camp at present!!

Yes to ratio tables, and yes to discussions in dept meetings and trying to keep thinking about connections generally- agreement is easier on some topics than others - and working out how best to balance students seeing the same structure alongside individuality of teachers.

Also, you say about ac. I like to draw attention early on to the fact the product of one diagonal is always equal to the product of the other, (with proof if the right thing for the students) then we can utilise that when factorising.

Really enjoyed reading this, we’re trying to work on having consistency/coherence as a department, and grid is part of that - your ideas about the benefits of maintaining the area aspect for longer are interesting, as is the early focus on the diagonal sum. Thanks

Me too, explored it with someone today in fact! Lovely bit of self consistency, always reminds me in that sense of why chucking another x in the mix for 2nd order DEs works if and only if a repeated root

Really useful posts, thanks Jo

I need to force myself to pick up the new one more, so I move with the times. But good suggestion about using them with science, thanks!

The new classwiz, or the classic one I love?! 😂

Wondering if anyone has done any joint PD meetings with maths&science departments? Doing one soon, thinking about finding some maths/science questions on similar topics so we can discuss approaches and similarities/differences (& another room for mechanics/physics teachers to argue about 9.8/9.81!)

Very enjoyable distraction from marking mocks, thank you!

I try not to be a tosser (ie I flip my coins)

Giving feedback to A Level mathematicians on the quality of their written mathematics-- with the rise of online platforms that self-mark student work we've been trying to think more carefully about maintaining high standards of mathematical communication.
mrchapmanmaths.wordpress.com/2025/01/25/t...

This was superb, hope you enjoy it too @sparksmaths.bsky.social !

Ah, I didn’t realise it was all part of one practical! Might have to ‘borrow’ a bit more of my boys track!

Nice, for the second one do you start the car high up, let it run the track (with loop the loop) to a stop (maybe up another slope to instantaneous rest?) and then measure track length to compare initial GPE with WD, or do you have a way to measure the speed of the car?

Love mechanics, love hot wheels, and love the intersection of the two! What were you doing today?

Ice has been scraped off the inside of a car windscreen and is now on the dashboard

Ice on the inside of the windscreen this morning wasn’t ideal 🥶

I’d have stuck around period 5 if I knew this was going down!

I like justifying these by graph transformations

That’s cool, need to think more and prove it, but also now wondering about posing a RISP-esque question built out of the tangent at the ‘opposite’ x coordinate of the vertex, and that it would go through y axis at the y coordinate of the vertex

That was something I asked about on here, I’ll see if I can work out how to link the thread…