Integral Magazine
Maths made accessible
Our aim is to make maths accessible to all, particularly low income, ethnic minority and female students, who collectively make up our target group. We also want to disprove the belief that mathematical talent is entirely inherent. Positive reinforcement combined with curiosity and a work ethic can help push students to new mathematical heights, whereas discouragement and stereotyping hinders potential.
Fact.
Women made up less than a third (29.3%) of those employed in scientific research and development (R&D) across the world in 2016
Fact.
Only 1.4% of STEM-field PhDs completed in the US in the past 10 years were completed by people of African descent
Fact.
Over 40% of children in Hong Kong say that they find maths classes boring
Our Project:
We’ve been publishing student-written articles on maths on our website since April 2020, which are easy-to-understand resources about mathematical topics. We also run a problem of the week column on social media that encourages people to think laterally in mathematics, and a question and answer column called Integral Explains where readers can have their mathematical questions answered.
With the funding and resources provided by Kids4Kids, we plan to start two new initiatives. The first will be a virtual lecture series, which would be an opportunity for maths-focused students to share their passion and knowledge with others who otherwise may not get that experience. These lectures would ideally be broadcast in schools serving underprivileged children, as they may not have access to technology in their own homes. The second initiative would be hands-on, engaging maths workshops with girls, refugees and low-income students that we would run in schools and refugee camps. These workshops would provide kids with an opportunity to learn maths in a way very different from how it’s usually taught in classrooms.
Get involved:
We need as many volunteers as we can get to help run workshops! We would also be extremely grateful to companies with spare office space (e.g. conference rooms) who would be willing to let us run workshops in their spaces. You can also simply support us by following our Instagram page, reading our articles, and taking part in our challenges!
Visit our Instagram here!