About FSMAs

What are Free-Standing Mathematics Activities (FSMAs)?

FSMAs are a growing body of mathematics teaching resources for students in secondary and further education, developed, trialled and shared by teachers, with editorial input from the Nuffield Foundation. They support the use of mathematics (including mathematical modelling and problem solving) with many being situated in practical and authentic contexts.

Why 'Free-Standing'?

The 'Free-Standing' echoes the origins of these activities - many were developed for the Free-Standing Mathematics Qualifications (FSMQs) which have been available in England for over 10 years.

However 'Free-Standing' now alludes to the principle that the activities are relatively self-contained and can be used for any lesson(s) where the particular contexts or processes/skills are relevant.

What is available in an FSMA?

For each FSMA unit there are student sheets and teacher notes. Where relevant there are slides to introduce the activity, spreadsheets and other interactives. The teacher notes start with a short overview of the activity, who/what it is designed for, and the available resources. The student sheets have background information where needed, and tasks for the students to work and reflect on. Extensions and solutions are included in the teacher notes.

What other support is available?

There are schemes of work that use the FSMAs, presently for the FSMQs, but in time they will provide more general pathways for topics such as interpreting graphs, mathematical modelling, statistical inference, and using calculus. etc. They will also include links to other sources of rich activities such as MEI, the National STEM Centre, NRICH, Nuffield AMP, Shodor, etc.

Work is underway on developing contextual activities that can be used both by mathematics teachers and by teachers of subjects in which the activity is situated (sciences, geography, economics, ...).

The Nuffield Foundation is also partnering with a range of organisations to provide teacher professional development around the FSMAs, to support better use of mathematics and statistics for post-16 students.