LIFD Public Engagement Spotlight: MathsCity

In August 2022 LIFD provided financial support to MathsWorld  to develop wave tank activities, graphics and teaching materials. We are delighted that this work is now ready to share, and you can access the resources here!

MathsWorldUK aims to create the UK’s first National Mathematics Discovery Centre, an interactive space to explore the wonders of Mathematics. The LIFD grant has been used to develop a set of fluids activities for MathsCity, a lively interactive maths experience in Leeds City Centre. MathsCity is a first step towards a National Mathematics Discovery Centre. It presents mathematics as playful, exciting, and accessible – sparking new engagement with the subject and boosting pupils’ skills and confidence in the subject.  Exhibits are created and built to museum-industry standards, designed to engage children and adults alike in absorbing experiments and discovery for up to 1.5 hours at a time.

The LIFD funded Wave Tank activity demonstrates the effect of different coastal defences. The wave generator includes a vertical plunger, which is operated by a simple manual turn handle. Included are several different inter-changeable coastal defence option fabrications.

The MathsCity programme targets a broad section of the public including schools serving the most economically deprived areas of Leeds City Region, where young people have suffered the greatest disadvantage following the disruption to their education during the pandemic. Material developed for MathsCity will shape the direction of the fluids offering for the future National Mathematics Discovery Centre.

If you’d like to find out more about these activities, then visit the MathsCity hub in Leeds Trinity Centre.

This work was supported by the University of Leeds HEIF programme