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Why being bad at Maths just doesn’t add up

By Helena Rees, Head of Maths.

Many still see people who are good at maths as slightly weird, geeky, uncool. Why is this? Why should we study maths?

A couple of years ago Professor Brian Cox hosted ‘A Night with the Stars’ on the BBC. From the lecture theatre of the Royal Institution, he undertook to explain among other things how diamonds are made up of nothingness and how things can be in an infinite number of places at once. He took the audience, made up of famous faces, celebrities and scientists, through some of the most challenging concepts in physics, using maths and science experiments as he went along. It was a truly fascinating programme and if nothing else demonstrated the power of numbers and the speed with which they can make a grown man cry. Jonathan Ross (43 mins approx) was invited to assist Brian Cox in a maths calculation using standard form. The look of sheer panic on Ross’s face, followed by him saying, “This is the worst thing that’s happened to me as an adult” and “I’m sweating”, just about sums up many people’s attitude towards maths.

Mrs Duncan spoke to the whole school this week and used this example. Imagine going out for dinner with six friends and the bill comes. When the time comes to split the bill between seven, the bill is shuffled to the maths teacher or accountant with a slightly shame-faced look saying, “I am rubbish at maths” or “I couldn’t do maths at school”. Imagine, however, that same group of people sitting down to order and someone asking for the menu to be read out because they can’t read it. Few will admit that they can’t read as the stigma of this would be hugely embarrassing. Yet no such reservations exist for maths with individuals almost boasting about their lack of maths ability. Why is this?

Many still see people who are good at maths as slightly weird, geeky, uncool. A PhD in Maths or Physics at the end of a name tends to conjure up images of social awkwardness — people more to be pitied. On the whole surveys of attitudes over the past 50 years have shown that the cultural stereotype surrounding ‘scientist and mathematician’ has been largely consistent — and negative. However, things are changing, in November 2012, President Obama held a news conference to announce a new national science fair. “Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House, we’re going to lead by example,” he said. “We’re going to show young people how cool science can be.” The idea that scientists, mathematicians and engineers could attain iconic status is exciting.

The popularity of television shows such as ‘Think of a Number, ‘Countdown’ and more recently the use of numbers in ‘Numb3rs’, and ‘How Do They Do That?’ have boosted the public’s perception of Maths. CSI has done more for boosting number of students of forensic science than any careers fair. The Telegraph recently reported that students who had a Maths A Level earned on average £10,000 more than a student without. Perhaps statistics like these would encourage more students to take the subject seriously. A report by think-tank Reform estimates that the cost to the UK economy between 1990 and 2008 of not producing enough home-grown mathematicians was £9 billion, such is the value of maths expertise to business.

Marcus du Sautoy, second holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford says he can’t understand the pride there is in being bad at Maths. “It’s bizarre why people are prepared to admit that because it’s an admission that you can’t think logically. Maths is more than just arithmetic. I would rather do business with someone who admits they’re good at Maths. You don’t get that in the Far East. In Korea or China they’re really proud of being good at Maths because they know the future of their economies depend on it, their finances depend on it. Mobile phones, the internet, Playstations and Google all depend on Maths,” he says. “If people realised that, then they wouldn’t poke fun at it so easily. In today’s information age, Mathematics is needed more than it ever was before – we need Maths. Problem solving skills are highly prized by employers today. There is an increasing need for Maths and the first step needed is a change in our attitudes and beliefs about Maths.”

It is true that many of us will not do another quadratic equation or use trigonometry in our daily lives. However, Mathematics is more than just the sum of subject knowledge. The training to become a scientist or an engineer comes with a long list of transferable skills that are of enormous value in the ‘outside world’. Communication skills, analytical skills, independence, problem-solving skills, learning ability — these are all valuable and at the top of Bloom’s taxonomy. But scientists, mathematicians and engineers tend to discount these assets because they are basic requirements of their profession. They tend to think of themselves as subject-matter experts rather than as adaptable problem solvers.

We have all heard of Pythagoras and his famous theorem. The theorem states that the sum of the squares on the two shorter sides of a right angle triangle sum to the square on the hypotenuse, more commonly shortened to a2 + b2 = c2. In 1637 Pierre de Fermat postulated that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than 2. For example to a3 + b3 = c3 After his death, his Fermat’s son found a note in a book that claimed Fermat had a proof that was too large to fit in the margin. It was among the most notable theorems in the history of mathematics and prior to its proof, it was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “most difficult mathematical problem”.
(https://plus.maths.org/content/fermats-last-theorem-and-andrew-wiles ) However, in 1994 Andrew Wiles, published a proof after 358 years of effort by Mathematicians. The proof was described as a ‘stunning advance’ in the citation for his Abel Prize award in 2016. You can watch an interview with Andrew Wiles by Hannah Fry where he was interviewed this week in the London Public Lecture Series organised by Oxford University.

In a recent article Wiles commented “What you have to handle when you start doing Mathematics as an older child or as an adult is accepting the state of being stuck. People don’t get used to that. They find it very stressful.” He used another word, too: “afraid”. Even people who are very good at Mathematics sometimes find this hard to get used to. They feel they’re failing. “But being stuck, isn’t failure. It’s part of the process. It’s not something to be frightened of. Then you have to stop. Let your mind relax a bit…. Your subconscious is making connections. And you start again—the next afternoon, the next day, the next week.”

Patience, perseverance, acceptance—this is what defines a Mathematician.

Hilary Mantel, novelist and writer of Wolf Hall writes “If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient” Perhaps Mathematicians and novelists are so different after all?

When it comes to Mathematics people tend to believe that this is something you’re born with, and either you have it or you don’t and this is the common refrain at parents evenings. But that’s not really the experience of Mathematicians. We all find it difficult. It’s not that we’re any different from someone who struggles with Mathematics problems in junior school…. We’re just prepared to handle that struggle on a much larger scale. We’ve built up resistance to those setbacks. A common comment on parents evening is to delegate the Maths homework to dad as that is ‘his thing’. What message does this give our girls of today? That this is a subject that boys are good at.

Luckily for us here at Wimbledon High School we have a strong culture of doing well in Maths. We have excellent results at iGCSE and there are over 50 girls this year in year 12 alone studying some form of post 16 Mathematics qualification with a view to a STEM career. The new Steam room is an exciting initiative to be part of. A recent article in the National Centre for the Excellence in Teaching of Mathematics journal, asked how can we get more girls to study A Level Maths. The answer at WHS? Keep doing what we are doing well and continue to be excited and positive about the beauty and the magic of numbers.

 

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The importance of female composers and musicians in shaping the musical world

By Anna Kendall, Year 12.

When considering the world of classical music, the minds of most are filled with images of Mozart and Beethoven, Purcell and Vivaldi, Chopin and Grieg, all tremendous virtuosos whose compositions were fundamental in creating and developing the musical world. However, these pioneers all have one uniting quality: they are all male. For many, and indeed for myself, it is a challenge to think of even just one influential female composer, whilst it is easy to list countless prolific men.

Despite being regarded as inferior to the opposite sex in terms of importance in the history of music, for over a millennium, women have been composing great works, beginning with Hildegard von Bingen in the 12th century, right through to the present day. Women have in fact made a significant contribution to the musical world which should not be overlooked.

Not only a composer of some 70 works, Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179) was a German Benedictine Abbess, writer, mystic and visionary. Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard’s music. Her most notable work is Ordo Virtutum (Play of the Virtues), a morality play which was thought to have been composed as early as 1151. The key feature of the work is how it exhibits her musical style: in the play, as with the majority of her works, the music is described as monophonic, that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line which dominates the piece. Her style is characterised by soaring melodies that pushed the boundaries of the typical chants of the medieval period. In this way, Hildegard was able to conform to the traditions of 12th century evolutions of chant whilst simultaneously pushing those evolutions, which in many cases was through her use of melismatic (rather than the traditional syllabic) recurring melodic units.

Moreover, despite Hildegard’s self-professed view that the purpose of her compositions was the praise of God, some scholars have asserted that Hildegard made a close association between music and the female body in her musical compositions. In her Symphonia (a collection of liturgical songs), the poetry and music could be concerned with the anatomy of female desire and could thus be described as Sapphonic, connecting her to a history of female rhetoricians. From this, it seems astonishing that such a key figure of the early musical world can go unnoticed: Hildegard’s ideas lay the foundations for many great works.

Moving forward to the Romantic period, a more well-known female composer is Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847). Sister of the distinguished composer Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny composed more than 460 works, including a piano trio and several books of piano pieces and songs. Having learned the piano from a young age, in 1820 Fanny, along with her brother Felix, joined the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin which was led by Carl Friedrich Zelter. Zelter at one point favoured Fanny over Felix: in an 1831 letter to a friend he described Fanny’s skill as a pianist with the highest praise for a woman at the time: “She plays like a man.”

Notwithstanding her abilities, she faced numerous trials whilst trying to compose. Fanny was limited by prevailing attitudes of the time toward women, attitudes apparently shared by her father, who was tolerant, rather than supportive, of her activities as a composer. Her father wrote to her in 1820 “Music will perhaps become [Felix’s] profession, while for you it can and must be only an ornament”. Her piano works are often in the style of songs and carry the title, ‘Song without Words.’ This style of piece was successfully developed by Felix, though some assert that Fanny preceded him in the genre, and the question of who out of the siblings is more rightly deserving of credit for this style is debated amongst scholars. Nevertheless, Fanny was a key composer of the Romantic period who should not be hidden under the shadow of her brother.

The wife of Robert Schumann and herself one of the most distinguished pianists of her time, Clara Schumann (1819-1896) enjoyed a 61-year concert career. She was an incredible virtuoso, and was able to change the format and repertoire of the piano recital and the tastes of the listening public in the Romantic era. She was one of the first pianists to perform from memory, making that the standard for concertizing. Trained by her father to play by ear and to memorise, she gave public performances from memory as early as age thirteen, a fact noted as something exceptional by her reviewers.

However, for many years after her death Clara Schumann was not widely recognized as a composer. As part of the broad musical education given her by her father, Clara Wieck learned to compose, and from childhood to middle age she produced a good body of work. Clara wrote that “composing gives me great pleasure… there is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation, if only because through it one wins hours of self-forgetfulness, when one lives in a world of sound”. At the young age fourteen she wrote her piano concerto, with some help from Robert Schumann (a childhood companion who would later become her husband). However, as she grew older, she sadly became more preoccupied with other responsibilities in life and found it hard to compose regularly, writing, “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose—there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”. This self-doubt caused her to stop composing altogether: her compositional output decreased notably after she reached the age of thirty-six.

Today, her compositions are increasingly performed and recorded, and Clara is beginning to become recognised for her contributions, both as a performer and as a composer.

As well as these three key figures, there are countless other female composers throughout history who have helped to shape the musical world: Hildegard, Fanny and Clara are a brief introduction to a group of lost pioneers. It is in this modern age that we are able to uncover the hidden stories and works of these tremendous women, and I am hopeful that the absence of females in musical history may be unwritten, and that these women may finally get the recognition they deserve.

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A trip to הארץ (the land)

By Keith Cawsey, Head of RS.

Having been at Wimbledon High School for a whopping twelve years (how did that happen?), I was due a sabbatical. My first stop was Israel. 

I first visited Jerusalem in the January of 2000 and was keen to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. I was also interested in visiting a few places and museums that I have taught about since qualifying as a teacher, but never actually visited.

My first stop was to the Western Wall. Often called the ‘Wailing Wall’, it is best known by the Jewish community as ‘the Kotel’ (literally, The Wall). This is the only part of the original temple that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Indeed, it is part of a supporting wall of that temple and is the most sacred place visited by the Jewish community today. To the left of the wall itself, is an arch – Wilson’s Arch – where the faithful were praying and a discussion on the Talmud was taking place.

At school, I lead the annual trip for students in Year 10 – Year 13 to Poland, where we visit Auschwitz concentration camp and Oskar Schindler’s factory. When he died, Oskar Schindler asked to be buried in Jerusalem, facing the Mount of Olives and his grave is visited by millions each year. On my second day, I searched for his grave. In a way, it was closing a circle. I had visited his factory in Poland, listened to many Schindler survivor testimonies and, of course, watched the film. Here was my opportunity to pay tribute to that awe-inspiring man, who saved so many. His grave had stones placed on top of it, a Jewish tradition to honour the dead. Later in the week, I visited Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial to the Shoah (Holocaust) and saw his tree planted in the ‘Avenue of the Righteous’ – a row of trees placed in memory of all the non–Jews who helped save the lives of Jewish people during the Shoah.

Starting in the Muslim quarter on the third day, I walked down the ‘Via Dolorosa’ – a road that traditionally Jesus walked down on his way from being sentenced by Pontius Pilate, to his crucifixion. Each of the fourteen stations is marked by a number and many have churches or chapels where you can pause and reflect on the Passion of Christ. The last four stations are to be found in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – a church traditionally built on Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. You can also see the place where Jesus was laid out after his crucifixion and the tomb where, according to tradition, Jesus was placed after his death and subsequently rose from the dead. Rudolf Otto used the word ‘numinous’ to explain that feeling of holiness and of the almighty and in this church. It was all around me.

Later that week, I queued very early in the morning to climb up to the area of the Temple Mount (Har Habayit in Hebrew). This is the place where the Jewish Temple once stood and is traditionally is the site where Abraham demonstrated his devotion to God by almost sacrificing his son Isaac. Today, the Al-Aqsa Mosque stands on the site as the rock that the mosque is built around is traditionally the place of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven during his night journey in the 7th Century CE. The view of Jerusalem and the vastness of the site itself was remarkable. The site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, some say, was once the ‘Holy of Holies’ of the Jewish temple and, as a result, praying by Jews on this site today is not allowed as they may be treading on sacred ground; only Muslims are allowed into the mosque itself to protect the sanctity of the building.

In Jerusalem, my final visit was to Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial to the Shoah. The building itself cuts dramatically through the countryside as visitors are led past the Avenue of the Righteous through to the main museum. Here, there is a chronological display of how the Shoah unfolded between 1933 – 1945 as well as focussing on what happened to the Jewish community afterwards. The Hall of Remembrance has an eternal light and a list of all the concentration camps written into the floor – a fitting memorial to the six million Jews murdered in Nazi Germany. A time to reflect on the past, but also a time to pray that we all have a responsibility to ensure that such an event must never happen again.

The last couple of days of my trip were in Jaffa – a port just outside Tel Aviv. It is connected to a great character of the Old Testament – Jonah – sent by God to deliver bad news to the people of Nineveh. He tried to hide from God, but God had other ideas and taught him, and us, a valuable lesson.

I leave you with a Jewish toast – ‘L’Chaim’, which is Hebrew for ‘To life’.

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STEAM

By Alex Farrer, Scientist in Residence.

Since the launch of our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) space in September, STEAM lessons, activities, clubs and assemblies have been delivered by the new Scientist in Residence team. This has created a buzz of curiosity around the school and enabled “STEAM” to be injected into the curriculum, but what is exactly going on, and why?

It is frequently reported in the press that thousands of additional science and engineering graduates are needed each year and many national initiatives aim to encourage more girls to aspire to such careers. However it is still the case that most pupils decide by the age of 10 that science is “not for them”. They enjoy science, they are good at science, but they think that other people become scientists and engineers. The STEAM initiative aims to encourage more girls to aspire to study science, technology, art and mathematics subjects post 16, but also to develop STEAM skills in all pupils. Not every pupil will aspire to a career in science and engineering, but every pupil will benefit from added exposure to STEAM. Employers and universities are increasingly looking for candidates who have problem solving skills, consider the impact of their decisions, use their imagination, communicate well, work well in teams and cope with frustrations, problems and difficulties. Cross curricular STEAM activities not only help to develop these skills for every pupil, but also show how relevant the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics are to all subjects.

More information is available here about the ASPIRES and ASPIRES 2 studies which track the development of young people’s science and career aspirations and also here about the benefits of keeping options open for possible engineering careers.

This new initiative at Wimbledon High aims to promote STEAM cross curricular activity for all year groups from Reception to Year 13. The Scientist in Residence team consists of experts in computer science, medicine and STEAM teaching and learning, who are able to plan activities that are practical, challenging, engaging and linked to real life situations. Visiting engineers and scientists enrich the projects and links are made to STEAM careers. In the lessons things might go wrong, groups may have to start all over again, team members might disagree and tasks may be really difficult to succeed in. Coping with the epic fails that can occur when imaginatively attempting to solve a STEAM challenge is all part of the benefit though, and there is also a lot of laughter and fun. The lessons can certainly be classed as “serious play”!

These are just a few examples showing how STEAM is beginning to form…

• Year 3 launching projectiles ‘Into the Woods” 
• KS3 being creative with Minecraft Education Edition
• Year 7 using their physics knowledge to capture amazing light and colour photographs at the beginning of their art topic
• Year 6 learning about sensors and coding with micro:bits
• Year 1 becoming rocketeers
• Year 7 creating pigments for Joseph’s technicolor dreamcoat in R.S.
• KS3 gaining medical insights into the Black Death in History
• KS3 pupils designing and building a City of Tomorrow
• Year 5 designing ocean grabbers inspired by the R.S.S. Sir David Attenborough
• Year 4 controlling machines built with LEGO WeDo

Year 12 are also beginning a joint project with local schools and scientists from UCL and Imperial College as part of the ORBYTS initiative – Original Research By Young Twinkle Students – an exciting project using mass spectrometry to look at exoplanet atmospheres which includes the opportunity for students to be co-authors on an academic paper. There may even be a robot orchestra in the making, so there is certainly a variety of STEAM forming!

What all of these activities have in common is that they aim to promote STEAM dialogue around the school. The year 6 academic committee have been putting intriguing photographs with an attached question around the school to promote just this sort of discussion, whether it might be year 8 on their way into lunch or parents chatting while waiting to pick up year 2.

 

 

 

What happened here?

 

 

 

We want to show students and adults in our community that STEAM is something done by us all. As an adult yourself you may have felt in the “not for me” category – you might have given up science early, or not felt that it was your best subject. As role models we all need to show that we are interested in talking and getting involved in STEAM, so that no one in our community is in the “not for me” category. Helping with a competition entry, discussing Blue Planet 2, using STEAM news articles or photos as hooks for lessons, all help to inject STEAM into the school community.

Follow us on Twitter @STEAM_WHS to see more of what is going on and look out for future blogs on the importance of building science capital and using STEAM photos to inspire and engage. The following web links are examples of the many cross curricular ideas available for all age groups that could be used in lessons and at home. Create some STEAM!

https://www.stem.org.uk/cross-curricular-topics-resources

https://www.stem.org.uk/welcome-polar-explorer-programme

https://practicalaction.org/challengesinschools

http://www.rigb.org/families/experimental

http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resources/art/topics

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Historical Guilt: Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Wimbledon High History

By Millie McMillan, Year 12.

The debate surrounding the question of historical guilt is a controversial and emotionally fraught conversation.

For the campaigners that lobby governments to admit their involvement and express their repentance for past actions, an apology is a necessary step towards reconciliation. For the government, and many citizens, an official apology seems like a misguided action, conceding their financial liability and provoking backlash from their citizens. This question can be explored through the example of the British Empire; regarded as a symbol of colonial oppression by its critics, and a nostalgic reminder of bygone British power by others.

“The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the European Union that does not need to bury its 20th century history.”

This statement, allegedly tweeted by Liam Fox (Secretary of State for International Trade) in March 2016, exposes many of the problems surrounding the issue of historical guilt, for two reasons. Firstly, the word ‘bury’ is intriguing, implying the general desire of nations to hide or suppress their own questionable historical actions by refusing to address the significance and impacts of them. Whilst this is not at all surprising, it does raise questions about many nations not accepting accountability for their actions, and whether this is the best way to approach a future of reconciliation. Moreover, this statement exemplifies how many citizens see British imperial history in a ‘nostalgic’ light. However, whilst one can disagree with the sentiment expressed, it is the wider repercussions of such attitudes that are almost more alarming.

The question lies not with whether Britain should bury her history, but why it is perceived that nations need to bury theirs in the first place.

You may have personal grievances with the way in which Fox chooses to view the British Empire, yet even disregarding this fact, his statement is a symbol of a wider culture of glorifying historical achievements, whilst vehemently refusing to acknowledge those which we would rather forget. We feel the need to bury our morally ambivalent actions, producing a warped view of historical events.

Surely it is this very approach; of sweeping historical misdeeds under the carpet, of equating ‘forgetting’ with ‘forgiving’, that is most detrimental?

This question of historical guilt has but another facet – it is not only about whether we should apologise, but also if we are able to. The generations of today had no input into past actions, and therefore an apology is either a reconciliatory mark of separation from past mistakes, or an ‘empty’ gesture, with little significance or substance behind it. If an apology is defined as an expression of one’s regret at having wronged another, then it seems not only counterintuitive, but disingenuous to deliver an apology for an action that you didn’t commit.

Nevertheless, if we choose to view an apology as a necessary step towards changing attitudes and actions, an opportunity for education along with a sign of mutual respect… it renders an apology far more significant and long lasting. A strained apology is hollow and superficial; a sincere apology offers solace and closure, twinged with optimism for a future encompassing different approaches and education.

Tony Blair’s 2006 expression of “deep sorrow” is the closest to an apology for the activities of the empire that the British Government has released thus far. Meanwhile, in other cheery news, a poll in 2014 revealed that 59% of those surveyed believed the British Empire was “something to be proud of”. It is not that the British Empire was solely a negative influence, but it is this perception of it being a source of ‘pride’ to generations that had no involvement in its creation or demise that seems somewhat confusing.

It is indicative of a flaw in the way in which the education system chooses to portray British history, glossing over the barbaric aspects of British rule and igniting a misplaced sense of patriotism amongst those eager to listen.

The question of whether countries should apologise for their actions remains, and will likely be a contentious issue for many years to come.

It is certain that we can no longer continue to ‘forget’ the events of the past. This approach achieves nothing, except fostering a culture of ignorance and misguided ‘pride’. A reformed approach to national education regarding the perceptions of Britain’s past is surely the best way in which historical guilt can best be repented. An apology is but mere words; however, the longevity of an informed population with changed mind-sets, who no longer believe their homeland is infallible, is undoubtedly more significant.

Let us not feel the ‘need to bury’ the mistakes of the past, and instead use enhanced knowledge and wisdom of our history to create a better future.

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Behind Closed Doors: The secret worlds within us…

By Rahi Patel, Year 12.

Have you ever wondered where the common phrase ‘gut feeling’ stems from or how this meandering smooth tissue could be related to such complexities as emotions?

For centuries Aryuvedic medicine (An ancient Indian branch of medicine) has regarded the gut as the centre of our wellbeing; however, in modern medical practice this once revered organ has been pushed to the side in order to make way for the big players: the brain and the heart. However, recent developments in the medical field are beginning to reveal evidence to prove this ancient theory: showing us that our ‘gut feelings’ truly are the most significant.

In order to understand this rather counter-intuitive principle we must first establish the functions of our brain; it is the centre of conception and movement, the organ that led us to the discovery of electricity, and the organ helps us to coordinate the complexities of standing for Mrs Lunnon in a Monday morning assembly. Although we have created a strong link between the term ‘self’ and our brains we can see through the exploration of this underrated organ, the gut, that there may be more to ‘ourselves’ than what lies behind the eyes.

Our guts possess a multitude of nerves found uniquely in this part of the body. This immediately poses the question of why such an elaborate and complicated system would be needed if the sole purpose of the gut were to create a pleasant journey for food to move from the mouth through to the colon, accompanied by the occasional release of gaseous sounds?

So the scientists amongst us must all be wondering where the evidence is to support these new claims. Well, several experiments have been conducted around the world highlighting the importance of our gut with regard to mental well-being.

The ‘forced swimming test’ is a commonly used experiment to assess the effectiveness of antidepressants. A mouse is placed in a basin of water too deep for it to stand in, so it is forced to swim; mice with depressive tendencies give up swiftly, however, the ones with greater motivation persevere. Most antidepressants tend to increase the time that a mouse swims for, before giving up. One scientist, John Cryan decided to feed half the mice with Lactobacillus Rhamnosus: a bacterium widely known to be beneficial for gut health. Impressively, the mice with enhanced gut health not only swum for longer, but their blood also contained significantly less stress hormones.

Cooperation between the gut and the brain, via the vagus nerve, is thus proving to be a promising field for the curing of mental disorders and diseases. The gut is our largest sensory organ, so it would only make sense for the brain to form a close relationship with it, to create a detailed image of the state of our bodies, given ‘knowledge is power’. This understanding is helping to shed a light on complex neurological diseases, such as depression, as scientists are now aware that there is more to the ‘self’ than the brain, questioning the philosophical proposition of ‘I think therefore I am’…maybe we should adapt this to ‘I eat, then I think, therefore I am’.

Lining the labyrinth of organs known as the gut are approximately 100 trillion bacteria (weighing 2kg) eagerly waiting to help us break down and assimilate the billions of particles that enter our bodies each day. They also help to produce new vitamins, for example sauerkraut is significantly higher in vitamins than plain cabbage.

Not only do our bacteria increase nutrient values in our food they also advise us on the foods that we should be eating – a perplexing idea I know! But what we eat is a matter of life and death for our friendly cohabitants, so it only makes sense for them to influence our choices. In order to trigger a craving the brain must be accessed, which is a tough feat considering the armour-like meninges and the blood – brain barrier. Bacteria can synthesise molecules small enough to access our brains, such as the amino acids, tyrosine and tryptophan, which are converted into dopamine and serotonin within the brain. Of course this is not the only way in which cravings materialise, but it is far easier to control our brain with bacteria than with genes, which may help to pave the future of treatments for diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

So next time you wonder why you’re craving a tortilla or your favourite brie, just eat it, since 95% of serotonin (the happiness hormone)  is produced by the gut and we all now know the significance of ‘gut feelings’ on our well-being!

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The long and winding road: how factual recall tests can effectively support linear examination courses

Wimbledon High History

By Emily Anderson, Head of History.

Think back, if you can, to your own History studies at school, whether these were months, years or perhaps decades ago. For most, the content covered becomes, over time, increasingly hard to recall. My current grasp of the French Revolution, for example, which I studied at AS Level, is embarrassingly basic now, almost 15 years later, as it is something I have rarely had need to revisit. At Parents’ Evening, parents smile wryly at vague memories of the Corn Laws or the Spinning Jenny (not meaning to undermine their importance, but their ubiquity in the collective memory of British adults is truly extraordinary) and voice envy at the breadth of opportunities available in the current History curriculum.

Instead, it is the broad conceptual understanding of, say, the nature of power, as well as the skills that remain, and these which lie at the heart of the purpose of History education for our department here at WHS. Empowering our students to participate in the academic discourse of History is our core aim, to enable them to engage critically with the world around them in their future lives. It is, however, impossible to participate in this discourse without what has been termed ‘fingertip knowledge’ as well as more conceptual ‘residual knowledge’: to secure meaningful progress in History, both need to be developed (Counsell, 2000). As argued recently in Teaching History where dialogue around cognitive psychology is increasingly evident, ‘fluent access to a range of types of knowledge is what enables historians to participate in some of the more sophisticated forms of historical discourse’ (Fordham, 2017).

Recent changes to A Levels (AL) have brought how we secure this fingertip knowledge into focus. The nature of the new linear exams mean there is more demand for a greater volume of content to be retained over a longer period of time. The importance of detail is evident both from reviewing past papers and from our experience in examining at AL last summer.

To approach this, we reflected on our experience of nurturing fingertip as well as residual knowledge at GCSE, where the linear model is, of course, long established, as is our practice of setting factual recall tests at the end of each topic. Our evaluation of the latter is below:

Advantages Disadvantages

It is classic retrieval practice, which results in stronger storage and retrieval strength (Fordham, 2017).

It encourages an extra stage of revision early in the course before more high stakes testing kicks in for mocks and terminal exams, reducing the pressure on Year 11.

It helps lead to great results (above 75% A* in the past three years).

Our tests were much too challenging – becoming notorious amongst our students and sapping morale.

They were no longer fit for purpose – pupils would never need to recall such specific detail, especially after the reform of the CIE IGCSE Paper 4 in 2015 which removed such questions.

 

Therefore, we have changed the structure of our tests to open ended questions. At IGCSE these are in the style of 4 mark recall questions. At AL I am experimenting with questions taking the form ‘cite two pieces of evidence which could be used to support an argument that…’, or similar. To try to tackle the issue of relevant but vague answers, I have awarded bonus marks at AL for detail to encourage both a conscious choice in selecting evidence (as pointed out by Foster & Gadd (2013)) and in-depth revision. All are now out of a uniform mark – 20 – to encourage comparison across topics and at different stages of the two years.

Furthermore, we have used the new AL structure to rethink when we test, in order to support maximum recall over the two years. Here, we currently have two approaches: retaining end of topic testing at GCSE in order to keep the advantages identified above, but utilising spaced tests at AL (the benefits of which are argued by, amongst others, Laffin (2016) and Fordham (2017)) by revising and testing existing knowledge on a topic before the next stage of it is covered. This lends itself particularly well to the unit on the British Empire from c1857-1967: in the past few weeks, my Year 13 class have sat tests on the increasing independence of the Dominions and on India, both in the period from c1867-1918, before studying inter-war developments. Students then complete their own corrections, consolidating the learning and identifying areas for development. During the revision period at AL, they can also undertake the same test several times citing different evidence. My 2017 cohort had, at their own suggestion, a star chart to record how many times they had undertaken a test for each area of the course, broadening their evidence base each time.

Whilst I hope that this gives a snapshot of the department’s current and very fledgling thinking, I would be mortified if it was taken to show that we are overly focussed on factual recall testing in the department. We are not. Tests of course never can and never will be the ‘be all and end all’ in terms of assessing student progress, but approaching them critically can only be a good thing.

References and further reading

Counsell, C. (2000). Historical knowledge and skills: a distracting dichotomy . In James Arthur and Robert Phillips, Issues in history teaching (pp. 54-71). London: Routledge.

Fordham, M. (2017). Thinking makes it so: cognitive psychology and history teaching. Teaching History, 166, 37-43.

Foster, R., & Gadd, S. (2013). Let’s play Supermarket ‘Evidential’ Sweep: developing students’ awareness of the need to select evidence. Teaching History, 152, 24-29.

Laffin, D. (2016). Learning to like linear? Some ideas for successful introduction of the new A Levels. Historical Association Conference workshop.

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There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.

By Suzy Pett, Head of English.

With imaginative writing now a significant part of the Edexcel English Language IGCSE exam, Head of English, Suzy Pett, takes a look at how to teach creativity.

Creative writing for many young people can seem scary. Whilst it was enjoyed at primary school, it can be hard to squeeze it in amidst mounting homework and social media. In a world of 9-1 exams, assessment objectives and mark schemes, Somerset Maugham’s witticism (above) might strike fear into today’s young person. How to do well at something in which methodology and success seem so elusive?

However, Maugham is not suggesting that imaginative writing is a quagmire of subjectivity. Nor am I suggesting that creative success can be measured by exam mark schemes. But, we can certainly differentiate between good writing and that riddled with hackneyed phrases, lazy grammar and bland vocabulary. We can certainly smell a mile away desperate formulae – the gratuitous simile, forced adjective or unnecessary alliteration. And, we can certainly enthuse, excite, inspire, prod, cajole and galvanise pupils into gaining the tools to become discerning creative writers.

So, while Maugham declares the illusory nature of three rules for novel writing, here are three things we do to nurture imaginative writing here at WHS.

1. Play with voice/style

Adapting writing for purpose, audience and form (PAF) is the cornerstone of how we teach creative writing. Being alert to the nuances of tone is essential. You don’t want to bore the pants off your readers with prudish sincerity. Nor do you want to offend with flippancy in the wrong context. But how to get pupils to enjoy the playfulness of this code switching?

• Bring in the clowns (well, sort of)! In March, comedian Dave Smith – regular guest on Radio 4’s Home Truths and various TV shows – will help our Year 10s cultivate a wry, humorous and satirical voice in their writing.
• Bring in the performance poets! Deanna Rodger and Cecelia Knapp are coming to WHS to perform and lead workshops with our pupils. Hearing their raw, immediate, confessional first person voice combined with the performative quality of their language allows pupils to be alert to the negotiation of style, content and audience.

Activities to try yourself/with your daughter:
• Regularly read columnists with strong sense of voice: Caitlin Moran, Hadley Freeman, Marina Hyde…
• Try rewriting a section from a novel from a different character’s voice. How would language, tone and perspective change?

2. Be alert to grammar

On first look, grammar might seem anathema to imagination. However, rather than being starchy and puritanical, grammar in fact unlocks creativity. It allows pupils to write with craft and intent.

A few weeks ago, the WHS English Department had training with Ian Cushing, a teaching Fellow in English Linguistic at UCL (and co-author of the AQA English Literature and Language Student book among many other publications). We unpicked the way grammar was a meaning-making device in texts, having fun playing around with similar grammatical techniques in our own creative writing and assessing the effects. It was an absolute blast and we genuinely had great fun with verbs!

Activities to try yourself/with your daughter:
• Take an extract from a novel/magazine/newspaper. Look carefully at how it is put together. Are there lots of verbs (-ing verbs? Past tense verbs)? Are there lots of abstract nouns? Or concrete nouns? Or prepositions? Ask yourself what effect they have. Then, try to create your own piece of creative writing using the same grammatical devices to create similar effects.

3. Read (novels, newspapers, articles, blogs)

Reading is a given for any creative writer. It develops our worldview, empathy, vocabulary and awareness of narrative structure. We start every KS3 lesson with reading. Over the summer, we asked pupils to become word magpies and collect all the new vocabulary they came across in their reading, allowing them to build a store of unusual vocabulary to replace weary idioms.

Activities to try yourself/with your daughter:
• Take a writer you love and try to mimic the language, sentence structure, figurative/literal images in your own work. Create a pastiche!
• Have a vocabulary jar in your kitchen. Pick out new words every so often and make sentences out of them over breakfast or dinner: create characters and settings. The more wacky, original and imaginative, the better.

So, there you have it. Three ways we can nurture creativity.

• Want your daughter to develop her creative writing outside the classroom?
• KS3: come to Scribblers club!
• KS3: Read Scoop magazine (in the library)
• KS3/4: come on the annual Arvon residential creative writing trip to spend a week workshopping with published writers
• KS4/5: come to ‘It’s Critical!’ to be immersed in a wider ranges of writers beyond the curriculum
• Enter the many competitions we advertise
• Write for Unconquered Peaks (get in touch with Year 13 Editor-in-Chief, Olya)
• Write a storybook for Ghanaian children with Akenkan

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The Rapid Growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Should We Be Worried?

By Kira Gerard, Year 12.

“With artificial intelligence we are summoning a demon.” – Elon Musk

In 2016, Google’s AI group, DeepMind, developed AlphaGo, a computer program that managed to beat the reigning world champion Lee Sedol at the complex board game Go. Last month, DeepMind unveiled a new version of AlphaGo, AlphaGo Zero, that mastered the game in only three days with no human help, only being given the basic rules and concepts to start with. While previous versions of AlphaGo trained against thousands of human professionals, this new iteration learns by playing games against itself, quickly surpassing the abilities of its earlier forms. Over 40 days of learning by itself, AlphaGo Zero overtook all other versions of AlphaGo, arguably becoming the best Go player in the world.

Artificial intelligence is defined as a branch of computer science that deals with the simulation of intelligent behaviour in computers, allowing machines to imitate human behaviour in highly complex ways. Simple AI systems are already wide-spread, from voice-recognition software such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon Echo, to video game AI that has become much more complex in recent years. It plays a key role in solving many problems, such as helping with air traffic control and fraud detection.

However, many people are concerned with the continued advancement of artificial intelligence potentially leading to computers that are able to think independently and can no longer be controlled by us, leading to the demise of civilisation and life as we know it. In 2014 Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur behind innovative companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, stated in an interview at MIT that he believed that artificial intelligence (AI) is “our biggest existential threat” and that we need to be extremely careful. In recent years, Musk’s view has not changed, and he still reiterates the fear that has worried humanity for many years: that we will develop artificial intelligence powerful enough to surpass the human race entirely and become wholly independent.

As demonstrated in a multitude of sci-fi movies – 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, Ex Machina, to name a few – artificial intelligence is a growing concern among us, with the previously theoretical concept becoming more and more of a reality as technology continues to advance at a supremely high pace. Other scholars, such as Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates, have also expressed concern about the possible threat of AI, and in 2015 Hawking and Musk joined hundreds of AI researchers to send a letter urging to UN to ban the use of autonomous weapons, warning that artificial intelligence could potentially become more dangerous than nuclear weapons.

This fear that AI could become so powerful that we cannot control it is a very real concern, but not one that should plague us with worry. The current artificial intelligence we have managed to develop is still very basic in comparison to how complex a fully independent AI would need to be. AlphaGo’s Lead Researcher, David Silver, stated that through the lack of human data used, “we’ve removed the constraints of human knowledge and it is able to create knowledge itself”. This is an astonishing advancement, and signals huge improvements in the way we are developing artificial intelligence, bringing us a step closer to producing a multi-functional general-purpose AI. However, AlphaGo Zero’s technology can only work with tasks that can be perfectly simulated in a computer, so highly advanced actions such as making independent decisions are still out of reach. Although we are on the way to developing AI that matches humans at a wide variety of tasks, there is still a lot more research and development needed before advanced AI will be commonplace.

The artificial intelligence we live with every day is very useful for us, and can be applied in a variety of ways. As addressed by Mr Kane in last week’s WimTeach blog, technology has an increasing role in things such as education, and we are becoming ever more reliant on technology. Artificial intelligence is unquestionably the next big advancement in computing, and as Elon Musk stated in a recent interview: “AI is a rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation instead of reactive… by the time we are reactive in regulation it is too late.” As long as we learn how to “avoid the risks”, as Hawking puts it, and ensure that we regulate the development of such technologies as closely as we can, our fears of a computer takeover and the downfall of humanity will never become reality.

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Decolonising the Canon of English Literature

By Ava Vakil, Year 12.

If the purpose of literature is to represent the culture and tradition of a language or a people, can we really profess ourselves to be true students of literature when seemingly only focusing on a single culture and its peoples?

Such has been the question of a group of students from Cambridge University these past few weeks; there has been a cry from undergraduates to “decolonise” their English Literature syllabus by taking in more black and minority ethnic writers, and bringing more expansive post-colonial thought into the curriculum.

A kindred instance occurred at Yale University in May of last year, where there was widespread criticism of the requirements to graduate as a Yale English major. As it stands, a student is able to fulfil the requirements of the revered course without studying the literature of a single woman or minority writer.

However, as always after a plea for diversity, there comes the inevitable “But…(insert the name of any women/minority)!”.

And whilst this may be true – and the likes of Austen and the Brontës have themselves a fairly fixed place within the Canon of English Literature – it is simply not good enough; not only are women and minorities few and far between, but they tend to offer what I consider ‘one-step diversity’. This being white women, or gay men, or anyone who represents only one shift away from the ‘norm’ of the straight, white cis-gender men. Where are the black female trans writers, and why aren’t they a key part of our education?

There is an urgent need to address the homogeny of the curriculum within many universities and schools, along with the canon itself. The reason for this is not just diversity for diversity’s sake (though this has many benefits in itself), but because we are narrowing and constricting our understanding of literature and context by ignoring writers simply because they don’t have a place in the literary canon.

This does not mean refusing to study Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Frost etc. but simply broadening our conceptualisation of what English Literature is.

As Dr Priyamvada Gopal, a teaching fellow at Churchill College (Cambridge) puts it:

“It is not just about adding texts but about rethinking the whole question of Britishness, Englishness and what they mean in relation to the empire and the post-imperial world… questions of race, gender, sexuality and so on.”

We are hampering and inhibiting our own knowledge under the colonial guise of the canon. Surely it should be impossible to study Othello or Jane Eyre without considering the post-colonial context? Or Twelfth Night without a wider multidisciplinary study of gender and sex?

Though it is against the nature of universities to want to politicise their curriculum, this happens by default when the syllabus simply reflects the age-old and continuing social, literary (and political) repression of anyone classified as “other”. Hence, cries from Twitter trolls about this being a ‘patrolling’ of the curriculum to suit and accord to the views of particular women and minority groups are intrinsically hypocritical.

The canon of literature has forever accorded to the politics of the majority, and appeals to change this are no more political than the sexist, racist and colonialist nature of the canon in the first place.

The need to change this system of subtle repression of writers within education must come from both professors/teachers and students alike. Though there are concrete changes which need to be made in terms of legislation of the actual syllabus, as students we have a large part to play.

Read widely and read critically; consider racial and gender context; rewrite and reclaim what you consider “classic”. Most importantly, investigate the hidden under-belly of the canon of English literature – the texts that are excluded have just as big a part to play in the shaping of our society as the texts which sit smugly on the exclusive list.

“Let’s make our bookshelves reflect the diversity of our streets.” – Phil Earle