Tes Maths: Top investigation ideas

Get secondary students thinking differently about Maths with these creative investigations and problem solving challenges

Tes Resources Team

Directions and question mark showing Maths investigations for secondary students

Engaging investigation ideas to kick-start creative thinking in your classroom

Inspire and enthuse your secondary Maths students with these investigation lessons, activities and challenges, giving them the opportunity to hypothesise, be creative, challenge themselves, work with other students and potentially discover things that have never been discovered before. So, why not give it a try with this hand-picked collection of resources from the Tes community?

KS3 resources

Creativity in Maths
DaveGale

Creativity in Maths

(29)
For all teachers of maths, this is a guide in booklet form about how you can view Creativity in Maths. What does it mean to be creative and how can you provide opportunities for creativity? There are five puzzles/tasks included in a ready to print format.
Mathemagic. Games. Investigation. KS3 Ages 11-14
maths126

Mathemagic. Games. Investigation. KS3 Ages 11-14

(35)
NEW!! Excel Spreadsheets for the effect Total Disbelief. A collection of mathematical magic tricks for teachers. Particularly suitable for KS3 but also popular with older children. Each trick gives an anecdotal account of the effect being used in the classroom, followed by the explanation and teach...
Murder Mystery. Game Problem solving KS2-3 (7-14)
maths126

Murder Mystery. Game Problem solving KS2-3 (7-14)

(473)
A murder has been committed! There are 32 suspects, and one of them is guilty. Using your powers of deduction, can you crack each of the five coded clues to reveal the identity of the killer? NEW (13.02.10) ANSWERS & TIPS
Maths Investigations
tafkam

Maths Investigations

(86)
Based on the Science tasks produced in East Sussex, these investigation starter sheets give an introduction to a topic for investigation, with levelled guidance for progressing the investigation and to allow self- and peer-assessment. Targetted at Y7, these may be suitable for several year groups in...

KS4 and KS5 resources

Fun with Probability - Horse Race game 2 - GCSE
Mandymaths22

Fun with Probability - Horse Race game 2 - GCSE

(1)
Horse Race Game animated interactive PowerPoint A dice game with full instructions on the PowerPoint Learners play the game then discuss the class results Fill in a sample space Find the Probabilities Worksheet pdf included GCSE L2 Aims Skills Developed Use and apply mathematics...
Binomial Distribution Investigation
Outstanding_Resources

Binomial Distribution Investigation

(0)
This is a whole lesson based around an **Investigation**, which is fun and also a fantastic way to self-discover what the **Binomial Distribution** is and introduce the whole topic. The lesson also looks at the notation involved and putting the formula into a general form. This is a fantastic founda...
Binomial Expansion - 'Discover the formula!'  Investigation Worksheet
MrHenchy

Binomial Expansion - 'Discover the formula!' Investigation Worksheet

(0)
This worksheet is designed to introduce students to the topic of binomial coefficients, combination, and binomial expansion. It is split into 4 tasks for the students to work through independently (with a partner is recommended) and by the end of the worksheet they should be able to discover the f...
Using Pythagoras for Distance to Horizon
dh2119

Using Pythagoras for Distance to Horizon

(0)
A problem solving project where pupils use Pythagoras to find how far away the horizon is, depending on your height about sea level. This is an open-ended project, where rather than being given all the information up front the pupils have to work in groups to explore the problem, then reflec...