Our resources offer the answer to skills-based learning at KS3

We have already covered a large section of the maths curriculum with our problem-based activities and we are constantly adding to this bank of resources, with the intention of ensuring coverage across the entire range at KS3.

We currently have 18 activities and 49 smaller games which cover curriculum areas including the following:

formulae and identities geometric reasoning interpreting and discussing results measures and construction mental methods number operations problem solving

processing and representing data properties of circles, triangles and rectilinear shapes powers and roots solving numerical problems transformations and coordinates using and applying number and algebra using and applying shape, space and measures

Each resource consists of three problem-based activities; each one taking between 40 minutes and 1 hour to complete in-class. Each activity covers a different area of the program of study that is relevant to the resource's theme - from dealing with budgets, loans and interest rates in Britain's Got Power to working with co-ordinates and distances in Cops and Robbers.

The challenges are self-scoring and teachers can monitor individual students' progress, ensuring that any topic that a student is struggling with is quickly identified and can be addressed.

The activities each consist of around 4-6 screens; each one delving deeper into their respective topic while progressing the overall story behind the resource.

Both the questions and the underlying data are randomly generated to ensure that no two sessions are the same. This prevents learners from memorising answers and from copying from friends.

Supporting documents

Supporting documents introduce the students to the skills they will need to complete the activities and give them opportunity to practice those skills before going on to applying them to the challenges. These come in the form of PowerPoint and PDF worksheets, teacher notes and lesson plans.

Worksheets provide learners with introductory material to each topic within the activities including explanations of each concept and example questions that allow them to practice their skills before attempting a resource.

The teacher notes list the national curriculum topics covered by the activity and offer helpful advice and tips on completing the activities screen by screen.

The lesson plans offer guidance to teachers on the topics featured within the activities and offer suggestions on concepts that may be worth exploring with students before they tackle the resources.

Example documents from the Settlers resource are below:

• Teacher notes
• Worksheets
• Lesson plans

Online leaderboards

Each resource also features an online leaderboard that encourages friendly rivalry between students which, along with the randomised data and questions, results in repeat play until the student has mastered the relevant skills for each activity and each resource.

Since the resources between them cover most of the curriculum, learners not only end up with vastly improved skills but are also able to use those skills more effectively than before!

Administration area

Teachers also get an administration area where they can administer student accounts and monitor their students' progress across all of the resources and games. This allows them to set homework and ensure that any topic that a student is struggling with is quickly identified for further attention.