Thank you for your support!

It's a sad day here at SPS, as today will be the last blog post from us, as our three running projects are coming to an end. 

As many of you will know, the numeracy project, What you say COUNTS! has been our longest running project, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the process of changing attitudes towards maths over the past two years. 

We hope that we have inspired comprehensive school pupils to realise that maths is used in everyone's everyday working lives, inspiring them to reach for their future career goals and achieve them. We also hope that we have encouraged younger children who have spoken to us on community days, or have completed our learning packs to realise that maths is actually fun! 

To those who have had a keen interest in changing their own negative attitude towards numeracy, we hope that we have proved that maths can be comprehensible, engaging, and compelling if you give the subject a chance to be. 

If you are a parent who has requested our Learning Activity Pack, our Christmas Activity Pack for your child, or have supported us by following us on Facebook or Twitter, we would like to say thanks to you too. Your support has encouraged us to strive to achieve more than we possibly believed we could. 

Although this is the end of the pilot scheme, we hope this isn't goodbye. We are hoping to get more funding to continue administering the scheme, so ensure you like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter so we can keep you updated with any developments (links to our Facebook/Twitter below) 

www.facebook.com/SteamPoweredStories 

www.twitter.com/SteamStories

Thanks for your support! 

We would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Wednesday!

 Since the What you say COUNTS! project began, we have administered various workshops, advertised, and attended events throughout Wales, and ultimately changed negative attitudes towards maths, and as the What You Say COUNTS! project will be coming to an end soon, we would love to get your feedback about our services. 

If you have been part of our workshops, spoken to us when we have been promoting in the community, or have been inspired to change your attitude towards maths after reading our blog post feel free to send us your comments. 

We are heading to Dwr-Y-Felin to deliver maths fun days on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th March. We are also delivering our Finance for Life workshop in Ysgol Dewi Saint with year eight pupils, so stay tuned for more information on these workshops.

 Also, don't forget to check out our 'StoryTelling Project' section to see what workshops we have been administering with primary school pupils across Wales.

Thanks for reading! 
Don't forget to send us your feedback. 

Dragons' Den Workshop in Powys PRU

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for a brand new blog post! 

Last week we delivered our popular Dragons' Den Workshop in Powys PRU, and we thoroughly enjoyed the day! We headed to Powys with the intention of showing young people how they can succeed in business by initially teaching them the basic skills for being an entrepreneur. 

The workshop initially taught the young individuals to understand entrepreneurship, and what it takes to become an entrepreneur. They identified modern-day entrepreneurs and considered Sir Alan Sugar to be a key role model for aspiring entrepreneurs. 

Working in small teams, the participants had to brainstorm ideas to consider what could be a successful, innovative product that would impress the Dragons, encouraging them to invest in their business idea. 

Once they had developed a business idea, participants then used their maths skills to calculate e.g., profit and loss, how much it would cost to make a prototype, and how much it would subsequently cost to create their final product etc., proving and highlighting our main aim, which is to demonstrate that maths is used in everyone's everyday and working lives. 

After fashioning their ideas, the participants then created their products, ensuring they used the best products they could get for the most affordable price. This part of the workshop was enjoyed by all. The learners began to really understand entrepreneurship, and how exciting and life-changing this workshop was to not only developing their maths skills, but also improving their other life skills e.g., working as part of a team, communication,  application of number, improving one's own learning and performance, and problem solving skills. 

Participants then prepared to meet the Dragons and confidently presented their finished products and business plans. 

We thoroughly enjoyed delivering the workshop, and we hope that we encouraged the participants to strive to reach their potentials, whether they are inspired to start their own businesses, or just want to find a part-time job. 

Thanks for reading! 

Don't forget to LIKE us on Facebook, and FOLLOW us on Twitter. 

5 ways in which maths is used in the music industry

Happy Wednesday! 
Today's blog post considers how maths is applied in the music industry, ultimately helping us to prove our aim, that maths is used in everyone's everyday working lives.

1) It's all about timing! 
If you want to be a singer, or an awesome guitar player, you will need to consider timing. How will you know when to start singing, if you don't count the beats until the song begins? This also applies to playing guitar, or any other instrument, you will need to know when to start playing the instrument, to ensure you keep a steady beat for other musicians and the singer. You will also need to know when to stop playing, to perhaps allow time for a solo.

2) Have you got rhythm?
To ensure you have rhythm, you will need to understand a time signature, which is a fraction at the beginning of a piece of music after the clef and key signature. The top number of the fraction shows how many beats occur in each measure, the bottom number reflects
the length of the beats. 4/4 time is also called common time, and is regarded as the most common time signature in music as it apparently the most easy to comprehend and play.


3) How do you buy music? 
Whether you listen to classical, pop, or rock music, ever considered the maths in how you buy your music? If you like buying albums, you will need to ensure you have enough money to purchase the album when you go to the store to buy it, or if you prefer to use iTunes, you will also need to calculate if you have enough funds to purchase the single you want to buy, or if it's worth purchasing the album instead as it is better value for money. I bet you didn't even realise that purchasing music involved maths so much!

4) Number of sales/downloads 
You may not have realised, but downloads affect an artist's career and development in the industry, and importantly to this blog post, tracking the number of sales and downloads involves counting and statistics, proving that maths skills are needed, and are regularly 
applied in the music industry. Once the number of sales have been calculated, songs are ordered into a structured chart that changes from week to week. The higher the song is in the charts, the more prestigious and renowned an artist is considered to be; as we all know getting a Top 10 single is better than being 38th in the music chart.

5) Do you want to be a chart analyst? 
Chart analysts look at trends in when people buy music, and advise artist's when it is the best time for them to release their new single, or album. This job involves considering profit and loss, working out percentages by calculating when people buy music, and tracking carefully how the chart develops to ensure the artist will release their new material at the pivotal moment.

So, here are the 5 ways in which maths is used in the music industry. We hope you've enjoying reading this post. 
Don't forget to head back to this blog next Wednesday for a brand new blog post!

Happy half term!

Happy Wednesday! 

We hope you are enjoying half term and enjoyed making a variety of pancakes yesterday! 

But did you even realise that you were applying your maths skills when you were flipping your pancakes? Here are four ways in which you used your maths skills to make your pancakes delicious. 

1) Measuring out ingredients

Before you enjoyed your pancakes, you had to measure out the correct amount of flour, eggs, and milk to create the batter. See, I bet you didn't even realise you were using your maths skills! 

2) Time to cook 

So you've put your pancake in the frying pan, did you consider how long you needed to cook your pancake before it get burnt? Did you time how long you had cooked each side of the pancake before you flipped it? Here you were using your maths skills again to time how long each side of the pancake needed to cook. 

3) Flip! 

Speaking of flipping, did you know that to flip a pancake you need to ensure the pancake flips 180 degrees whilst in the air! If you had flipped the pancake 360 degrees you would end up cooking the same side twice and with a burnt pancake. 

4) Sharing 

I bet everyone wanted to have some of those tasty pancakes when they were cooked to perfection, so it was time to count out evenly how many pancakes each person had to eat. Whilst plating up, you were using your division skills, dividing up the pancakes you made by the number of people that wanted them. 

So there you have it, our four ways that show how maths is applied in the process of making pancakes! 

If you are looking for ways to entertain the kids this half term, why don't you request our FREE Learning Activity Pack, that is filled with various activities ranging in difficulty that you can request and print off today? To request the pack, simply fill in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog, and receive your pack today! 

We hope you have a fantastic half term! 
Don't forget to head back to this blog next Wednesday for a brand new blog post. 

Maths Fun Day in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School

Happy Wednesday! 

Today's post is about our Maths Fun Day we delivered in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School, Neath, on Wednesday 4th February. We have worked with Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School previously, administering another Maths Fun Day at the school back in July 2014, so we couldn't wait to return and continue maintaining contacts, and continuing making maths fun and educational for the 240 year seven pupils that took part in our workshop. 

The day was divided into four workstations where students learnt and developed their maths skills through building towers with lego, by challenging each other in our start to finish maths game, through putting their maths skills to the test by playing our Who Wants to be a Mathionaire interactive game, and becoming inspiring entrepreneurs through our mini Dragons' Den project.  

Our tower building project challenged pupils to build a tower of Lego to represent different percentages. The start to finish project focused on getting pupils to calculate maths equations quickly. Pupils thrived in racing against their fellow class mates in both these projects, to see who could complete the tasks the fastest.

We believed that incorporating our Dragons' Den workshop into the Maths Fun Day also meant that students could become aspiring entrepreneurs and learn and develop their maths skills in the process. 

During the workshop, students had to invent an innovative business idea, complete market research, calculate how much they would sell their products for, and consider profit and loss. This would have been a new task for many of the year seven pupils, but the students thoroughly enjoyed delving into the world of business, creating new and innovative ideas, and considering if their idea was actually achievable. 

 Our 'Who Wants to be a Mathionaire' project aimed to gave Chris Tarrant a run for his money, as pupils worked in small groups to answer maths questions to ultimately become a Mathionaire! Pupils thoroughly enjoyed playing this interactive game as they began to realise that maths is used in their everyday lives, whether they were putting their maths skills to the test to play and achieve in this game, or working out if they have enough money to pay for their school dinner each day. 

Overall, the day was very successful. Pupils engaged with each project, and enjoyed the transition between each work station as they moved onto a new project, and a new maths task. We hope that we proved to Dwr-Y-Felin year seven pupils that maths is fun and enjoyable! 

We are heading to Powys PRU to administer our Dragons Den workshop on 27/02/2015, and we can't wait to prove to more young people that maths is needed everyday, and for that reason, everyone should believe they can be good at maths! 

Thanks for reading. 

Don't forget to head back to this blog next Wednesday for a brand new post! 

Do you follow us on Facebook and Twitter?

Happy Wednesday! 

As you may know, we have a Facebook and Twitter page. We update both our Facebook and Twitter pages daily to inform you about not only the What you say COUNTS! scheme, but also about the other projects we administer (Storytelling Project, Educational Outreach Programme, etc.,). In updating our social media regularly we can keep in touch with our followers, and also we hope this method means that you can keep in touch with us, as you will know exactly what we are doing, and what we will be doing in the future. 

 Below are our Facebook and Twitter page links. Simply click the links below to support the What you say COUNTS! scheme on Facebook and Twitter. 

We really appreciate your support. 

Events

Today we are heading to Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School to administer our Maths Fun Day! We will keep you updated about how this workshop goes.

Also, we had out first workshop for our Storytelling Project last Wednesday which was really fun and exciting for all involved. For more information on this project, and the workshops we offer, ensure you read our 'Storytelling Project' section at the top of this blog.

 If you require any further information, feel free to call Emily or Cara on 01585872385, or alternatively, email Emily on ECarter@janroltd.com

We are also getting ready to begin delivering our Maths and Physics workshops on behalf of Techniquest through our Educational Outreach Programme. 

Below is a video of the Back Stage Challenge workshop in action! To see the video, click the image of the video and you will be located to the video.

Thanks for reading! 

Don't forget to like us on Twitter, follow us on Facebook, and head back to this blog next Wednesday for a brand new blog post. 

January Catch Up!

Happy Wednesday! 

January is almost coming to an end, and we think it's definitely time for a catch-up! 

Storytelling project- 

Tonight is our first Story Telling Project workshop!

 It will be held in Fir Tree Drive Community Centre, Quakers Yard, CF46, and will take place between 5-6PM. The workshop aims to make reading and listening to stories fun, exciting, and educational for primary school pupils; so come along, and have fun! 

(For more information on this scheme, head to our 'Storytelling Project' section at the top of the blog). 

Fantastic feedback- 
We love to hear your feedback, whether it's good or bad. 
Last week we received really positive feedback from Ian Mattey, Curriculum Area Leader for Mathematics and Numeracy in Morriston Comprehensive School and we would love to share the feedback we received with you: 

If you have worked with us, or received our Learning Activity Pack, or Christmas Activity Pack, we would love to hear your views. 

Email us on steampoweredstories.janro@gmail.com today! 

Upcoming Events

We can't wait to head back to Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School on Wednesday 4th February to deliver our Maths Fun Day which will explore how maths is used in everyday situations. We are also in the process of planning to attend local community events; we will keep you up-to-date with what events we will be attending to promote the What you say COUNTS! scheme so you can come and say hello! 

Educational Outreach Programme
Another exciting programme that we cannot wait to administer is our Educational Outreach Programme. The Steam Powered Stories team are working on behalf of Techniquest, offering a range of challenge workshops that are designed to encourage students that study Maths and Science throughout their secondary education. 

We have recently brokered links with four schools in the local area, and a number of the maths and physics workshops have been booked, so if you would like us to come to your school, call Hayley today 0n 01685 872385, or email Hayley at HHowe@janroltd.com. 

If you require any further information about the scheme click the link at the top of the blog!

We are still giving away FREE Learning Activity Packs! 

We are still giving away free Learning Activity Packs that are designed in office by our Training Advisor and Support Staff member, Emily. The packs are filled with activities, and focus on developing your child's maths skills. The packs are sent via email, so you can print off the pack today and your child could be completing the pack tonight! 

To request the pack, simply follow us on @SteamStories, like us on Facebook.com/SteamPoweredStories, and then request our pack by filling in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog, ensure you state that you have liked us on Facebook, and followed us on Twitter to claim your pack. 

Thanks for reading! 
Don't forget to head back to this blog next Wednesday for a new blog post.

FREE Learning Activity Packs

Happy Wednesday! 

How is your January going so far? We hope that the January blues have disappeared and you are enjoying 2015. Today we thought that we would make your January that little bit sweeter with our FREE Learning Activity Pack. 

Our Learning Activity Packs are designed in office by our Training Advisor and Support Staff member, Emily. The packs are filled with various activities that are designed with age and ability in mind, and focus on developing your child's maths skills, as we believe education begins at home. These packs are sent via email, so you can print off the packs today and your child could be completing the pack tonight! 

To request the pack, simply follow us on @SteamStories, like us on Facebook.com/SteamPoweredStories, and then request our pack by filling in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog, ensure you state that you have liked us on Facebook and followed us on Twitter. 

For those that have received our Learning Activity Pack, or our Christmas Activity Pack, we'd love to receive your feedback! Email us at steampoweredstories.janro@gmail.com or by clicking the mail icon on the left hand side of the blog. 

Thanks for reading! 
Don't forget to head back to this blog next Wednesday for a new blog post :) 

Finance for Life workshop

On 9th January, we ran our first workshop of 2015 in Ysgol Maesydderwen, where we administered a Finance for Life workshop for 96 year nine pupils. 

Our Finance for Life workshop aims to prove to students that the maths skills they learn in school are vital to them being employed when they leave school and start searching for jobs. 

The year nine pupils were split up into groups and worked their way around four workshops; each workstation aimed to show pupils how maths is used in everyday life, and in every job role. 

Our first workshop considered payslips. Pupils were taught how to fill in payslips, and how to calculate different wages etc., 

The second workshop was titled ‘Mobile Phone Contracts’, where year nine pupils were given this scenario to consider: 

‘You work part- time job with EE as a Sales Assistant. Your job is to select the correct package for customers. For example: the cheapest one based on their usage (texts and calls.) You have 9 customers and you need to tell them which package is the best for their needs.’  

In groups of six, the pupils had to work out how much each of the four contracts would cost the customer, and which one would be the cheapest. Students worked together and thrived in this task; they learnt how mobile phone contracts work, and how important it was to work out the cheapest deal to save money. Several students were keen to complete the extension task of working out whether it was cheaper to pay more for a mobile at the shop and less on their monthly contract, or vice versa. 

Our third workshop was called 'Shopping Budget', where pupils were given a scenario where they were given a wage and working hours, and had to work out their weekly pay then their tax and National Insurance deductions. In addition to this, pupils also had to calculate how much money  they had to live on after they deducted living costs, hobbies, food costs etc., 

Pupils were then given cards with various foods on with, students had to select what foods they could afford within their budget, which is a skill which we believe is used weekly, if not daily; it is a maths skill that pupils will need to calculate as adults. 

Lastly, pupils worked through our Tax workshop, pupils were asked the question- 

where does your tax really go? In this activity, the pupils were shown an example of a tax break down, and had to debate in groups, if they thought that their tax was correct, and if it was morally correct for their tax to be calculated using certain methods. 

We believe the workshop was very successful, and we thoroughly enjoyed working with Ysgol Maesydderwen pupils to develop their maths skills, and to ultimately prove that maths is needed in everyone's life. We can't wait to work with you all in the future on our other workshops! 

We hope you've enjoyed this blog post. 

Remember you can follow our journey supporting the What you say COUNTS! scheme by following us on Twitter- @SteamStories, and by liking us on Facebook- Facebook.com/SteamPoweredStories. 

Thanks for reading! 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We hope you had a lovely Christmas, and a fantastic new year. 

For those who received our Christmas Activity Packs, we hope your child enjoyed completing the pack, and managed to develop their maths skills as a result. If your child loved or hated our pack, we would appreciate if you could let us know your feedback so we can develop our services. Simply email us and let us know what you and your child thought of our pack, our email address is steampoweredstories.janro@gmail.com

So, 2015 has arrived, and here at Steam Powered Stories, we have a packed schedule of events, workshops, and new and exciting projects to adminsister! Below are some of the workshops we will be running over the next couple of months-

09/01/2015- Finance for Life Workshop in Ysgol Maesydderwen 

16/01/2015- Dragons Den Workshop in Powys PRU 

04/02/2015- Maths Fun Day in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School 

04/03/2015- Dragons Den Workshop in Ysgol Maesydderwen 

23/03/2015- Peer Mentoring Project in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School 

27/03/2015- Finance for Life Workshop in Ysgol Dewi Saint 

We also have two new and exciting projects to tell you about- 

1)  Story Telling Project: 

Our Story Telling Project is funded by GwirVol and is a scheme that develops and delivers innovative, engaging, and fun literary workshops for children ages 7-11. The scheme aims to improve literary standards across South Wales, and the project will run throughout Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, and Rhondda Cynon Taff. We will be reporting more on this scheme in the coming months, so stay tuned! 

2) Free Educational Outreach Programme: 

 We are honoured to be working on behalf of Techniquest to deliver their 'Educational Outreach Programme- Let's talk Maths & Physics' in Mid and South West Wales.  

The programme offers a range of challenge workshops that are designed to encourage students studying Maths and Science in secondary education. The workshop activities will include, 'Maths Matters', that comprises of a number of videos that show how maths is used in a real world context, 'Backstage Challenge' where students organise a series of concerts across Wales, and the 'Solving problems with Physics' workshop that focuses on how physics is used in various sectors to solve problems. 

If you would like to work together with us on our Educational Outreach Programme, feel free to contact us today to express your interest and find out how you can get involved. 

We are thoroughly excited to be working on behalf of Techniquest and we cannot wait to get started! 

If you have any questions about our new projects, or just simply want to know more about the What you say COUNTS! scheme, feel free to call Hayley or Emily today on 01685 872385! 

Thanks for reading!