News Maths is Murder Summer Camp

The third year students from the BA Maths and Education Programme at NUI, Galway organised a two day maths camp for transition year students from Coláiste Iognáid (Twitter: @Jes_school1) on the NUIG campus, on the 12th and 13th of May.

The camp was called 'Maths is Murder' and involved students being presented with a CSI-type murder mystery which they solved using their maths skills, allowing them to gain experience with all strands of Leaving Certificate curriculum.  On the first day of the Maths is Murder event, the scene was a Crimecall type scenario; our NUIG Community Guard Hugh Rogers came in and outlined to the students what the Maths is Murder camp would entail.

The activities included cryptography, using technology and still CCTV images to estimate heights, shoe sizes etc.  Students were provided with a map of the campus and used this to estimate the distances between the crime scenes.  The student investigators used the clues at the crime scene to pinpoint the shooter’s exact location and then inspect this area.  The final activity was a moot court scenario in which the students argued their points in order to prove their suspect guilty “beyond all reasonable doubt”!

This project forms part of one of thethird year modules and has the purpose of building links between the University and the community.  We would like to thank Eir and the Students Union shop for providing some sponsorship of this Summer Camp.