Isabella, Year 9, discusses the impact that plastic has on our oceans, on humans, and what we can do to make a difference.
Plastic pollution is debilitating the Earth’s ecosystems and is a controversial topic being discussed worldwide. It is a material that is in nearly everything we use, despite it being commonly known that it is not a biodegradable substance. In fact, it can take up to 1000 years for a single plastic bag to decompose!
The image on the left shows how much plastic enters the oceans every half second. Now imagine how much plastic there is in the ocean. Nearly 400 million tons of plastic were produced last year, and it is estimated that there is more microplastic in the ocean than there are stars in the milky way. All this could remain there for the next 1000 years, and with the current rate of usage of plastic, this number will only increase. This is a dire situation, with catastrophic effects and something has to be done about it.
How does plastic impact the environment?
Recently, my family and I went on holiday to Brazil, where we stumbled upon an organisation called‘Projeto TAMAR’. Its purpose is to rescue turtles from the sea that are either injured or in need of help and nurture them back to health. We were lucky enough to witness one of the turtles being released back into the ocean. This particular turtle had been found in extremely poor health, with a lot of plastic in its stomach, including a whole plastic bottle. This isn’t a rare occurrence – in fact, over 50% of turtles have consumed plastic since they cannot differentiate it from food (such as jellyfish). However, turtles are not the only sea creatures to ingest plastic. 100,000 marine mammals and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. It has been predicted that by 2050, the mass of plastic in the ocean will exceed the mass of fish.
Is it only the sea creatures that suffer from plastic?
It is not only the aquatic species that eat plastic. As a result of humans eating fish, there is a strong chance that we are consuming plastic too. A study showed that seafood eaters ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year. Furthermore, chemicals such as oil, mercury, pesticides, lead and other heavy metals can now be found in the ocean due to plastic pollution. These can all result in dangerous health problems; hormonal issues, reproductive problems, and damage to our nervous systems and kidneys. Mercury is absorbed by plankton, and exposure to this can cause Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
What can we do?
Firstly, we can support non-governmental organisations like ‘Projecto TAMAR’ which make a huge difference in saving aquatic species. Secondly, we need to start recycling more – the average citizen in London buys 3 plastic water bottles a week – that’s 175 plastic water bottles each year – but on average they only recycle a quarter of them. If the usage of plastic was to decrease (and the amount recycled increase) it would significantly benefit the planet.
How can an individual limit the use of plastic?
We can all do our own bit to help, including:
Recycling
Use reusable materials
Avoid the use of plastic straws and disposable cutlery
Buy milk in a glass jar rather than a plastic carton
Carry a reusable shopping bag rather than buying one every time
Isabelle Alexander, Specialist Teacher Assessor and Head of Learning Support at WHS, considers the merits of carrying out a diagnostic educational assessment.
We have all seen the news articles and reports about parents or carers who try to get as much help as possible for their children in school, particularly when public exams are on the horizon. It would seem that they want their children to have an educational ‘label’ and will pay considerable sums of money to experts such as Educational Psychologists to try to achieve this, assuming that in so doing their children will gain a competitive edge.
At the other end of the scale, there are those parents/carers who refuse to accept or acknowledge that their child might have a learning difference worthy of further investigation and who reject all suggestions and advice from their child’s school.These parents are often convinced that it’s the child’s work ethic or the teaching in a school that needs to be addressed and indeed sometimes it does, but to dismiss the likelihood that there may be an issue worthy of further investigation with a child, might put the child at a disadvantage.
It is also true that students with certain educational needs are eligible to receive access arrangements in their GCSEs, A Levels and beyond, but most importantly, only once strict, regulated criteria are met, including, and in fact beginning with, evidence and support from the school.
The process of having a student assessed is about finding out what their strengths and weaknesses are and what, if anything, is having a detrimental effect on their learning and stopping them from achieving their potential.
The process
Educational Psychologists and Specialist Teacher Assessors assess for educational differences, some of which may lead to access arrangements in public examinations. They run batteries of tests that look at the child’s underlying ability, processing skills and attainment. They then produce a comprehensive report detailing the child’s profile. Other professionals may well be called upon in the instances where a student is displaying other symptoms, which could include difficulties with executive skills, socialising, maintaining attention, copying from the board, restlessness, excessive fidgeting, slow and/or poor handwriting – and school SENCos should be able to advise accordingly in these cases.
Advantages
The advantages of assessment are numerous regardless of any diagnosis:
Often a sense of relief is experienced by both parents/carers and child as the report clarifies why things have not always fallen into place or why, for example, it takes longer to complete a piece of work. Contrary to expectations, this can lead to an increase in self-esteem and confidence as there is a realisation that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the child; they might simply process things differently.
Educational assessments provide a greater understanding of learning strengths and weaknesses (we all have them), which then enables teachers to make appropriate accommodations and differentiate their teaching so the student can maximize their potential.
Assessments may also explain why work takes longer and why the student can’t always finish a task in class.
Assessments may explain why the student has to work harder to keep up.
Assessments can also explain why the student might feel awkward or does not ‘fit in’. They provide them with at least a part of their identity that they might have been struggling to understand.
Assessments usually provide answers and as such, give explanations and ways forward.
Disadvantages
Naturally, parents and carers are concerned that any diagnosis will result in fewer opportunities, particularly when it comes to Further Education. It is therefore important to know that all universities, including Oxbridge, accept students with learning differences and neuro-diverse profiles and most significantly have departments that offer support where it is needed.
There is a fear that the child will be ‘labelled’. ‘Labelling’ has come to have such negative connotations but I have yet to hear it used in an adverse way in a school in the context of a learning difference or where a child has an educational need. A diagnosis is not about attaching a label, it is about getting the right support and expertise in place to maximize self-esteem and potential. Knowing that a child has, for example, ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder), Dyslexia or issues with attention, no matter how mild, changes perceptions, and reactions for the better both at home and in school as it increases understanding and that has to be a good thing, doesn’t it?
It is possible that a diagnosis becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; teachers and parents might expect less from a child with learning differences and stop challenging them or the child might assume that they are incapable and stop trying. However, focussing on the child’s strengths and positive personal characteristics and offering encouragement and support usually stems feelings of doubt and negative thoughts.
It is expensive. Maybe, but a great deal of time, professional expertise and work go into assessing a child resulting in a full diagnostic assessment. This major piece of work that identifies strengths, weaknesses, with recommendations for support, could and most importantly, does, prove invaluable.
Concluding remarks
Clearly, it can be argued that I have a vested interest in promoting diagnostic assessment; after all, it goes with my job and I have spent many hours training to do this. However, I have not always worked in this field, I came to it following the assessment of my daughter, who at primary school could not learn rhymes, the days of the week or to read, but seemed intelligent. Her school recommended that she be assessed. The assessment revealed that she was indeed a bright child with excellent underlying ability who had dyslexia. Interventions were put in place at school and she attended sessions with a specialist tutor. The result is that at 21 years of age, she still has dyslexia. She also has the most amazing work ethic and organisational skills and has done extremely well academically. She firmly believes that diagnosis and intervention made a huge difference to her in a multitude of ways.
Learning differences and neuro-diverse profiles are often invisible and are not always easy to spot and are not always identified by the school, no matter how many checks are put in place. Young women and high achievers often mask their differences as they do their best to fit in. Not wanting to attract attention and stand out from the crowd, they work excessively at home to try to keep up. The views of parents are therefore relevant; if you notice for example, that your child is spending an extraordinary amount of time on their homework, or that their reading speed appears to be slow or that they have difficulty remembering things or communicating, call the SENCo at your school, discuss your concerns and observations and let them investigate further.
For me, there is no question or doubt in my mind. When a school suggests that an assessment might be useful, it will be; whether or not a firm diagnosis is made, you will gain a deeper understanding of your child’s learning profile and your child will ultimately feel happier in themselves.
Learning differences do not discriminate; they are not a measure of intelligence or ability and they can be present in anyone. They are certainly not a barrier to achievement. So why is there still so much stigma attached to them?
Rebecca, Year 9, looks at how the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method works to calculate the required score in a cricket match interrupted by the weather.
A rain delay at the cricket at the Oval
With the arrival of summer comes the Cricket World Cup in England and Wales. Although England are the favourites, there is no guarantee that they will win. One thing that is pretty much guaranteed though is rain. After all, it is England! But how do you calculate the revised target score in a rain-interrupted match?
The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method (DLS) is a mathematical formula designed to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited over cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. It is an attempt to set a statistically fair target for the second team’s innings, which is the same difficulty as the original target. It was devised by two English statisticians, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, and is generally accepted to be the most accurate method of setting a target score.
This method is needed as there are so many cricket matches that experience rain delays. Without DLS, there may not be a result from the game or the incorrect result (statistically) may occur. There were many other methods set up before DLS, but none of these took into account both the wickets lost/remaining and the revised number of overs remaining. For example, the Average Run Rate method took no account of how many wickets were lost by the team batting second, but simply reflected how quickly they were scoring when the match was interrupted. So, if a team felt a rain stoppage was likely, they could attempt to force the scoring rate without regard for the corresponding highly likely loss of wickets, skewing the comparison with the first team. Therefore, the DLS method was created.
What is the DLS Method?
The basic principle is that each team in a limited-overs match has two resources available with which to score runs (overs to play and wickets remaining), and the target is adjusted proportionally to the change in the combination of these two resources.
The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method converts all possible combinations of overs (or, more accurately, balls) and wickets left into a combined resource remaining percentage figure (with 50 overs and 10 wickets equalling 100%), and these are all stored in a published table or computer. The target score for the team batting second (‘Team 2’) can be adjusted up or down from the total the team batting first (‘Team 1’) achieved using these resource percentages, to reflect the loss of resources to one or both teams when a match is shortened one or more times.
In the version of DLS most commonly in use in international and first-class matches (the Professional Edition), the target for Team 2 is adjusted simply in proportion to the two teams’ resources i.e.
The actual resource values used in the Professional Edition are not publicly available, so a computer which has this software loaded must be used.
A published table of resources remaining percentages, for all combinations of wickets lost and whole overs lost
If, as usually occurs, this ‘par score’ is a non-integer number of runs, then Team 2’s target to win is this number rounded up to the next integer, and the score to tie (also called the par score), is this number round down to the preceding integer. If Team 2 reaches or passes the target score, then they have won the match. If the match ends when Team 2 has exactly met (but not passed) the par score then the match is a tie. If Team 2 fail to reach the par score then they have lost.
May 23rd 2019 is Outdoor Classroom Day, a global campaign to promote and celebrate taking learning and play outside. At Wimbledon High Juniors we encouraged teachers to take their lessons outside and enjoy the sunshine. Pupils hunted for maths in the playground, enjoyed library club in the fresh air, took part in STEAM busking, enjoyed Spanish outside, as well as carrying out lots of science of course! There is more information about the campaign here.
In May a team of year 8 girls were invited to the Science Museum to attend the final of the Ultimate STEM Challenge to show and celebrate the project they had been working on during the year. They displayed their “Teapods” innovation to the judges and were quizzed on their research, investigations and suggestions for improvements. The team had a fantastic day meeting students from other schools, talking to the judges, looking around the Science Museum and even receiving fantastic goody bags! Congratulations on such a fabulous project! More information about the Ultimate STEM Challenge can be found here.
We were delighted to find out that four Wimbledon High teams were chosen to attend the prestigious national TeenTech finals on 24th June. The event took place at the Institute for Engineering and Technology at Savoy Place in London, and our teams impressed the judges by explaining all of their innovative ideas to them. Aerotrans, Pen for the Blind, Stress-Less Desk and the Passenger Organisation Device were all carefully researched, and the prototypes have been thought through with the help from mentors at Thames Link, Kingston University and UCEM. On the day the VIP judges spent a great deal of time discussing the innovations with the teams and there was also an opportunity to meet lots of other pupils, hear about their ideas and also to meet Maggie Philbin!
When the winners were announced we were absolutely thrilled to discover that Team Aerotrans were winners in the Transport category. This was especially impressive as they were a year 7 team competing in the 11-16 age category. In the Spring term they will be going to Buckingham Palace to receive their award. Look out for Aerotrans – it may well be the way you will be travelling in the future!
Abhini, Year 10, looks at some of the issues surrounding climate change, and the potential impacts this will have on our lives.
During the Easter holidays, London and other parts of the UK witnessed a significant protest against the government with over 1,000 people being arrested for blocking streets. The wave of protest began with Swedish born 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who, every Friday, would sit outside government buildings in September, accusing her country of not following the Paris Climate Agreement.
What are the concerns?
So what is it that everyone is worried about in terms of climate change? The world is seeing more extreme temperatures being recorded increasingly across the globe. The 21st century has seen records broken with increased temperatures all through the season and the rise in temperatures also has an impact on the Arctic and melting ice caps. 2016 was the hottest year on record since 1880, with average temperatures measuring 0.99 degrees Celsius warmer than the mid-20th century mean. Since the 1950s, every continent has warmed substantially.
New Scientist graph on global temperature change
An additional impact that climate change is having on the earth is on sea levels, as they are rising at their fastest rate in 2000 years and currently changing at a rate of 3.4 mm per year, causing major impacts such as increased flooding. If sea levels continue to rise, countries like Bangladesh will cease to exist, leading to a refugee crisis, as an average of 21.5 million people have already been forcibly displaced since 2008 due to climate change-related weather hazards. Not only are our water levels increasing, but the ocean is now 26% more acidic than before the Industrial Revolution. This also means that the waters are now more acidic than at any other point in the last 300,000 years.
NASA data on sea rise change from 1880-present
Another shocking fact that is due to climate change, is the damage of two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef. In April 2017, it was revealed that two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been severely damaged by coral bleaching, usually a result of water temperatures being too high. However, there are many more important and recent events due to climate change such as last week’s cyclone attack in Mozambique and the wildfires that took place in California late last year. The pictures below show these significant, global events.
Is climate change real?
What about the people who deny climate change? A large proportion of the public in Western democracies deny the existence of climate change[1]. Some climate change denial groups say that because CO2 is only a trace gas in the atmosphere, it can only have a minor effect on the climate. Climate denial groups also argue that global warming stopped recently, or that global temperatures are actually decreasing. However, these arguments have been made clear to be false and are only based on short term alternates. Climate change deniers are often those who are economically making a financial interest in it and, in some cases, their generation is not necessarily going to be impacted by it.
We all know about ‘being green’ by walking to school or unplugging electronics when we are not using them. However, it is not enough anymore to just switch our light off as times now call for drastic change. The energy sources in our home need to be renewable, gas must go, and people should start investing in an electric or hybrid vehicle rather than using petrol or diesel.
We cannot sit and wait on the government to change. Change is in the hands of the people. We need to force the government’s hand and can only do so if we unite to try and save a world which we are currently destroying. Change occurs when we take action.
Ms Lucinda Gilchrist, Head of English, considers the roles of writing and grammar across subjects.
For English teachers, addressing writing and grammar skills is our bread-and-butter. However, in 2012, Ofqual introduced directive that in History, Geography, and Religious Studies, 5% of marks must be allocated to what is traditionally known as ‘SPaG’, or spelling, punctuation and grammar. Meanwhile, all other subjects with a significant written component must ‘make similar requirements for appropriate grammar, spelling, punctuation and legibility’ (Ofqual, 2015: 4). And of course, even more importantly, we need to ensure that pupils understand what is going on around them and communicate clearly in the world outside school. Not only that, but literacy is a form of social and academic empowerment, ensuring that all of us are able to access and interact with texts in a range of academic fields and social situations.
In a recent survey of WHS teachers, 68% of respondents agreed that ‘writing is important in my subject’, and 64% agreed that ‘the crafting of writing has a place in my subject area’. But what is really interesting about this is that, despite clear agreement that writing and grammar skills are important, there isn’t really much consensus of what grammar actually is, how much time and energy teachers across subjects should dedicate to it, and why it is important. If writing and grammar are so universally agreed to be important, it’s even more crucial to unpack what we mean by these terms, and how therefore we should approach them in our teaching.
Defining grammar
So, what do we even mean by grammar? Even this is hotly contested. In the survey, what was particularly interesting was that there wasn’t much agreement of what grammar is, and therefore what role it should play, even within subjects, with even Maths teachers having different views on the importance of writing in their subject. Much of the literature suggests that this is also down to our own perceptions of our competence in writing and grammar (for more on this, see Wilson and Myhill, 2012). Of course, on the broadest level, there is the macro-level view of grammar as the ‘structure’ of a language, an idea which came up in 32% of responses to the survey. However, when it comes to teaching grammar for writing in academic contexts, there are essentially two main approaches to grammar, although, as there is with any debate in education, polarisation of these views is unhelpful.
Most common is the correction/accuracy model, which perceives language as a set of pre-determined rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar (or ‘SPaG’) to which writers must adhere for the sake of clarity and erudition. In a recent survey of WHS teachers, words and phrases associated with this model came up frequently, with 64% of responses referring to ‘accurate’, ‘correct’, ‘proper’ or ‘clear’ English as the aim of teaching grammar. Traditionally, this approach would result in grammar taught primarily through decontextualized practice questions, unflatteringly called the ‘drill and kill’ approach by Laura Micciche of the University of Cincinnati (Micciche, 2004). This has also led this approach to be characterised as a ‘traditional’ (Hudson, 2004) approach to teaching grammar, and although we have moved beyond yawn-inducing practice exercises in teaching English grammar, it is worth interrogating what this model assumes about language and how this informs the way we teach it.
Figure 1: should we mark to a ‘single version of English’?
The main assumption is that there is a single version of English which is universally agreed upon to be the ‘correct’ version of English. When we mark pupils’ work, of course we have to contend with the bug-bears of misused apostrophes, comma splices and ‘would ofs’ instead of ‘would haves’, but this could end up being a very reductive view of what language actually is. Linguistically speaking, what we are judging pupils’ work against is Standard English, which is essentially just another dialect of English, in the same way Scouse, Mancunian and Estuary English are all dialects – dialect here referring to the grammar and vocabulary as opposed to the pronunciation. However, unlike other dialects, Standard English has less to do with geography and more to do with class and social groupings; it is a prestigious form of language descended from 1950s BBC English, into which we have to induct pupils so that the writing they produce means they can be taken seriously as scholars.
However, Standard English is more complex than that. Compare the sentences below:
Father was exceedingly fatigued after his lengthy peregrination.
Dad was exhausted after his long journey.
Dad was well tired after his journey.
Father were very tired after his lengthy journey
My old man was knackered after his trip.
Evidently, the first is not Standard English; the register is absurd for most everyday language contexts, and many of us I’m sure would caution pupils who were writing like this against ‘over-writing’. And it would certainly not be fair, or even politically correct, to tell a Cornish or Welsh dialect speaker that the way they were speaking was ‘wrong’. The only one of those examples which most would agree is Standard English is the second, but it’s hardly eloquent prose.
More than just correcting errors
An added layer of complexity here in that we are asking pupils to actually develop a good understanding of different types of English within the dialect of Standard English; using phrases such as ‘CO2’ and ‘ox-bow lakes’ would sound very weird in a Philosophy essay. And this isn’t just at the level of vocabulary: in different subjects, there are different syntactical structures which are held to be more prestigious than others. For my MA research, I undertook some analysis of the indicative content in GCSE mark schemes in History, Geography and Religious Studies. You can see some of the key features in the table below, where you’ll notice that there are quite clear differences in the expectations of language usage for each subject area.
Figure 2: exam board mark schemes for History, Religious Studies and Geography, showing the differences in the expectations of language usage.
Evidently, it’s not as simple as being right and wrong when it comes to grammar – but that doesn’t mean that the other main model of grammar teaching is a case of throwing the rule-book out of the window in abandon, even if what is traditionally known as ‘SPaG’ isn’t explicitly part of the mark scheme in the English Literature iGCSE; the only reference to the quality of writing in the mark scheme is for AO4, worth 25%, which refers to a need to ‘communicate a sensitive and informed response’.
Figure 3: a sign at Victoria Station, London.
Before we throw our hands up in horror, let’s unpack the genre-based model of grammar first. This model essentially posits that different academic subjects have their own very specific rules and conventions, which pupils will need to confidently use to write convincingly within their subject areas. Thankfully, 92% of responses to the survey disagreed that grammar should only be taught in English; with the genre-based model, part of the requirement of all teachers, regardless of subject area, is to teach pupils how to successfully craft their language for the academic genre they are using, and many subjects have several academic genres: consider the difference between a case study and a discursive essay, for instance. We can see this from our everyday language too: examples of non-Standard English which would be acceptable in a text message or shopping list would not be acceptable in an email or formal school communication, but that doesn’t make them ‘wrong’ in the appropriate context. In this approach to teaching grammar and writing, teaching grammar is a case of making explicit the different ways of writing in different subjects and the appropriate generic conventions.
What next?
So, how do we do this? Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer here, and with increasingly challenging examination specifications and curricula, nearly 50% of us cited ‘curriculum pressure’ and ‘time’ being the main hindrances preventing us from tackling grammar as much as we would like. Other major hindrances are our own confidence and knowledge of grammar; given that in the 1980s grammar teaching had all but disappeared from the curriculum, many teachers were either not explicitly taught any grammar, or taught by teachers who themselves were not explicitly taught any grammar, hardly an auspicious start for teaching an area which we so overwhelmingly agree to be important.
Figure 4: “it’s not as simple as being right and wrong when it comes to grammar”
However, I think there is also scope to be excited about this challenge, to help pupils see their writing within subjects less as ‘Is this right?’, and more as ‘How much do I sound like a trustworthy and intelligent scholar within this academic genre?’ In English, we regularly consider this through the lens of literature: how do modal verbs e.g. ‘shall’ convey the forcefulness of Old Major’s political speeches in Animal Farm, or how do reflexive verbs highlight Ralph’s self-control in Lord of the Flies? It’s a process which can work just as well applied to subject-specific writing, and to do that, we need to open up the dialogue about grammar, seeing it not as a closed and monolithic body of knowledge possessed by a prestigious few, but as something that within our own subject areas, we absolutely are experts in.
Wilson, A. C. and Myhill, D. A. (2012) Ways with words: Teachers’ personal epistemologies of the role of metalanguage in the teaching of poetry writing. Language and Education 26: 553‐68.
After the handover assembly on April 5th the new Sports Captain – Emily, will be running this blog. My new leadership team is raring to go for this next year and we hope to grow and improve the blog, so watch this space!
Grace, Year 8, looks at why maths is important in everyday life, and what happens when it goes wrong.
Maths is integrated into our lives. Whether it’s telling the time or looking at our budget for the latest gadget that we want to buy, we all use maths. But sometimes we use it incorrectly.
The Leonard v Pepsi court case
One example of maths going wrong is when in 1995 Pepsi ran an advert where people could collect Pepsi points and trade them in for Pepsi-branded items. Points could be collected through purchasing Pepsi products, or through paying 10 cents per point. For example, a T-shirt was worth a mere 75 points whilst a leather jacket was worth 1,450 points.
To end their campaign, Pepsi stated that the Harrier Jet, which was promoted in their advert, could be bought for 7 million Pepsi points. At the time, each Harrier Jet cost the U.S. Marine Corps around $20 million. Knowing its worth, a man called John Leonard tried to cash it in. This was an extensive task with particular rules, all of which John followed. His amount totalled $700,008.50 which he put into an envelope with his attorneys to back the cheque! Pepsi initially refused his claim, but Leonard already had lawyers prepared to take his side and fight. The case involved a lot of discussion, but eventually, the judges sided with Pepsi, even though Leonard v PepsiCo, Inc. is now a part of legal history.
Errors in the news
Does the maths add up?
Sometimes maths goes wrong on a big scale. For example, the Russian shooting team in the 1908 Olympics left with no medals because they turned up nearly two weeks late as the 10th July in Russia, was the 23rd July in the UK. The Russians were using a different calendar.
Lottery complications
Another example is of human confusion with maths. A UK lottery scratch card had to be taken off the market within a week due to players having problems with negative numbers. The card was called Cool Cash, and had a temperature printed on it. If you scratched a temperature lower than the target, you won. But lots of people playing didn’t understand negative numbers… “On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I had uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card, the machine said I hadn’t. I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8, but I’m not having it.” These players didn’t know how negative numbers worked, so looked for the numbers that were usually lower when they were positive.
Maths is important in everyday lives as we all use it, sometimes without being aware of it. However, it is important that checks are made to ensure the correct figures and calculations are used. After all, our lives may depend on it.
The image on the left shows how much plastic enters the oceans every half second. Now imagine how much plastic there is in the ocean. Nearly 400 million tons of plastic were produced last year, and it is estimated that there is more microplastic in the ocean than there are stars in the milky way. All this could remain there for the next 1000 years, and with the current rate of usage of plastic, this number will only increase. This is a dire situation, with catastrophic effects and something has to be done about it.
the sea that are either injured or in need of help and nurture them back to health. We were lucky enough to witness one of the turtles being released back into the ocean. This particular turtle had been found in extremely poor health, with a lot of plastic in its stomach, including a whole plastic bottle. This isn’t a rare occurrence – in fact, over 50% of turtles have consumed plastic since they cannot differentiate it from food (such as jellyfish). However, turtles are not the only sea creatures to ingest plastic. 100,000 marine mammals and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. It has been predicted that by 2050, the mass of plastic in the ocean will exceed the mass of fish.
One example of maths going wrong is when in 1995 Pepsi ran an advert where people could collect Pepsi points and trade them in for Pepsi-branded items. Points could be collected through purchasing Pepsi products, or through paying 10 cents per point. For example, a T-shirt was worth a mere 75 points whilst a leather jacket was worth 1,450 points.