Pupils at local St Saviour’s Primary School starred in their own very special countdown episode as construction company Multiplex hosted a morning of Multiplex Maths Challenges.
Multiplex are currently overseeing the development of Marble Arch Place on behalf of Almacantar and The Portman Estate. A team of three volunteers spent 14 March with Year 5 pupils at local St Saviour’s Primary School.
Over the course of the morning the volunteer teachers led a very engaged and enthusiastic class through a specially designed booklet of construction-related maths puzzles.
The fast-paced activities including estimating, calculating area and volume – all skills used by Site Managers, Engineers and Quantity Surveyors when overseeing projects. The activities were interspersed with short film clips, from members of Multiplex staff explaining the role of maths in their job. The pupils generated very impressive lists of all the diverse careers where maths plays a central role.
“I loved the Multiplex workshop because I learnt how important maths is in construction. Also, if you misjudge the weight of the crane the whole thing can fall.” Peter, Year 5 pupil
The morning drew to a close with the students drawing on their learning to design their own tower in pairs.
“When Multiplex came I was stunned to find out how much maths is used in construction. I enjoyed it most when we learnt about all the different construction tasks based on maths. It helped me understand why maths is important.” Vivian, Year 5 pupil
The Marble Arch Community Programme works closely with several primary and secondary schools who are always keen to welcome visitors from local businesses. If you would be interested in hosting an assembly, attending a careers fair or delivering a workshop like Multiplex, please contact our Community Programme Manager, Emily.
“It was rather joyful to see children’s reaction to maths in real life situations. I particularly enjoyed watching the response to the first part of the challenge, where students were encouraged to write down as many jobs that use maths in them as they could. One student wrote down a list of 17 jobs which was very impressive. I got the impression that every students’ opinion on maths changed that day, which is worth so much and can lead to great things.”
Azadeh, Undergraduate Quantity Surveyor with Multiplex
