Ask NRICH
Peer assisted learning on the internet
Ask NRICH is part of the NRICH on-line maths club. Youngsters from around
the world can post questions on our web-board, to be answered by a team of
volunteer university students.
A lot of the questions and discussions are at A-level and beyond, often on
areas outside the normal school syllabus. There is usually quite a bit of
discussion about preparing for STEP. We also get questions from younger
pupils, as well as teachers and other interested adults.
See what goes on
The
Ask NRICH web-board
The main sections where school-level questions are asked are "Please Explain" and
"Onwards and Upwards". Higher Dimension is for university-level maths - we don't
guarantee answers in this section.
The home page of the NRICH site
Have a look at the other things available on NRICH.
What is expected of the team?
All new team members are invited to a short training session. Existing team
members are encouraged to come along too. At these sessions, we cover the
basics of using the board, the board mark-up systems for displaying
mathematical symbols, guidelines that team are expected to follow and advice on issues such as people wanting help with coursework.
We prefer team members to have a current Criminal Records Bureau disclosure. We sometimes work with other organisations who insist that everyone involved has been through this procedure, and it is also required for occasional activities that some Ask NRICH team get involved in, such as maths events in Science Week. All you have to do is to fill in a form and show Emma some id, and the check is free for volunteers. For more information, see here.
After joining, it is very much up to individual team members how much they do. Some people check the board most days, and contribute a great deal. Others look out for their favourite area of maths, or questions they know they can explain well. Some people find they are too busy to help regularly, but contribute when they have a lighter week, or out of term time. You can access the site from wherever suits you (although obviously you should ensure you log out properly from shared terminals). We hope to organise some further training sessions for those who would like to develop their skills.
How to join
Currently, team members must be Cambridge University students when they join. This is largely for practical reasons to do with training.
- Join Ask NRICH as a university student (if you have already been a member as a school student, contact Emma to get moved into the university student category). You can join in with what's going on the board without actually being on the team.
- Let Emma know that you wish to join the team. She will let you know when the next training session is planned.
- Come to a training session, bringing your documents for the CRB check.
If you have any questions, e-mail Emma McCaughan.
