Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion Challenge 2010/11 in Buckinghamshire
Andy Dickson, ICT Consultant

The Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion Challenge has now become well established in the calendars of many schools across the UK as a way of engaging children of all ages in an exciting and motivating mathematics based project that is suitable for all ages from 10 upwards.

The Challenge is based on Cambridgeshire Software House's 'Cars Maths in Motion' software and is sponsored by Jaguar, Cambridgeshire Software House, Quizdom, iDesk, Rapid, Rising Stars, Kudlian Software, Wildern School, Rewards4Schools and Heritage Motor Centre.

The Challenge involves students, aged 10 to 16, working together in small teams to try and set up a race between virtual Grand Prix cars using tried and tested motor racing simulation software. The work needed to do this can be undertaken in a series of maths lessons or as part of a maths club activity - it’s up to you! Both boys and girls will become involved in the delights of long division, long multiplication, percentages, scale, the measuring of angles with protractors, ratio and a whole lot more besides. A full list of what is covered can be found on the Challenge website http://www.mathschallenge.co.uk.

The aim of the Challenge is to help raise standards of achievement in mathematics in all schools and to demonstrate that mathematics is not only a useful skill to have but one that can be fun and stand students in good stead throughout life. The 2010/11 Challenge is open to any school in either the State or Independent sectors. There are three age ranges in the 2010/11 Challenge:

Age Range 1: Any child of Primary School age.
Age Range 2: Any child in years 7, 8 and 9.
Age Range 3: Any child in years 10 and 11.

The Challenge is run through a national network of Lead Centres. The ICT Curriculum Support Team is the Lead Centre for Buckinghamshire Schools.

Each participating school, whether Primary or Secondary, will run a series of internal races to find its own winner who will take part in a Buckinghamshire knockout round in Spring 2011. Schools that make it through the knockout round will then meet for the Buckinghamshire Final. The Buckinghamshire primary, KS3 and KS4 winners will then race with other LA winners in the national semi-final knockout round to determine which schools are invited to take part in the National Final in June 2011.
 
A leaflet with information on the Maths Challenge including pricing and an order form for the Cars: Maths in Motion software is available here:

http://www.bucksict.org.uk/Teacher%20Resources/CarsMIM.htm
http://www.bucksgfl.org.uk/cmim

Primary Leaflet
Primary Order Form
Secondary Leaflet
Secondary Order Form
Crest Information

Any Buckinghamshire LA Schools who would like to be involved in the Maths Challenge should contact Andy Dickson, tel. 01296 334994, email adickson@bucksgfl.org.uk.