Schools are being urged to log on to a new web-site, launched this week, which aims to show pupils of all ages that maths can be exciting.

The new site encourages schools to take part in a unique programme called ‘Motivate’, in which pupils are taught by top mathematicians through a live video conference link.

"Motivate has been highly successful in bringing pupils into direct contact with outstanding mathematicians and getting across the message that maths can be both educational and fun. But we believe that many more pupils could benefit from this scheme and hope that the launch of this web-site will help us to reach them," said Jenny Gage, Academic Co-Ordinator of the programme.

Motivate is free to all schools and aims to bring schoolchildren from disadvantaged areas into direct contact with world-class mathematicians. Launched in 1999, the programme has linked to over 100 classes in more than 60 schools across the UK and also in South Africa and India.

Terry Mann, Assistant Principal of John Kelly Girls Technology College, London, has been involved in the Motivate programme with a number of different year groups and other schools in London, and believes that it has helped pupils to realise the opportunities that a good understanding of maths can bring.

"Getting across the message that maths is exciting, and explaining how much science, engineering, technology, medicine and commerce depend on maths, can sometimes be difficult. We have found that Motivate can help to explain that maths can be an interesting and rewarding career."

Motivate forms part of the Millennium Mathematics Project, which aims to help people of all ages and abilities share in the excitement of mathematics. It was chosen by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) as one of its pioneer projects in 1999 and was subsequently supported by a three-year Education award worth £70,000.

Motivate aims to research and develop new ways of using communication technology to enhance the teaching of mathematics and to broaden the horizons of expectation for gifted pupils.

Each video conference involves pupils from 10 schools. The mathematicians talk to the pupils about why they chose to study maths and discuss their own research area. Each speaker sets mathematical problems for pupils to work on with their classmates and their teachers after the session, and the pupils report their findings in a second video link four weeks later. All the teaching resources and problems can be freely accessed on the new web-site by schools and individual students, even if they are not involved in the links.

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