"I was invited by Anja Van Hooydonk, President of the QAMT Cairns Branch, to visit interested schools in Cairns and run workshops with high achieving Year 10 students. It was a wonderful experience, and I thank you for this opportunity.
Schools Visited and conducted Workshops for Maths Extension Students in Junior School:
Bentley Park College
Woree SHS
St Mary’s Catholic College
Cairns SHS
Peace Lutheran College
Redlynch State College
After consulting the Head of Departments at the various schools, it was decided that the session would be Matrices and Cryptography. Matrices is studied in both General and Specialist and was deemed to be a worthy challenge for all students. The link between maths and cryptography was investigated, and students were then required to decode a message using matrices.
Students were interested in the content covered, and thoroughly engaged throughout the sessions completing the set tasks. They are to be commended for their positivity, manners and behaviour.
The feedback from both students and staff was positive. There were a lot of conversations around the need for students to be challenged and see how maths can and has been used in real life.
Sincere thanks to Business Liaison Association for funding this program."
Narelle Morris
Visiting Mathematician