Colin Foster

My blog post looks at how short video animations can be used to address a range of topics from school and university mathematics blog.lboro.ac.uk/cmc/2026/10/... #MathEd #ukmathschat

This short video introduces the idea that some functions are not differentiable everywhere: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/allf... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

This short video introduces inverse proportion by contrasting a speedometer with a paceometer: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/inve... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

This short video introduces what pie charts are, and their strengths and weaknesses: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/piec... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

Another short video, this time presenting a way of introducing the idea of a function by using two people: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/what... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

Another short video, this time introducing scatterplots and correlation: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/corr... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

This short video uses animations to show that the exterior angle sum for any triangle is 360 degrees: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/exte... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

This short video presents a way of working on solving linear equations by using sticky notes on the board: www.twominutemath.org/gallery/solv... Go to the website to view 160+ short videos for school and beginning university mathematics - all free to use however you wish. #MathEd #ukmathschat

Are we teaching a cohesive, connected mathematics curriculum, or ticking off a to-do list of processes students need to master? My new post suggests how school mathematics could shift to focusing on Big Mathematical Ideas. 🔗 blog.lboro.ac.uk/cmc/2026/06/... #MathEd @lborodme.bsky.social @ukri.org

Does school mathematics sometimes feel like a checklist of disconnected procedures? What if instead we focused on five BIG IDEAS? Explore this brand new, comprehensive and completely free website for teachers: bigmathematicalideas.org #MathEd #MathTeacher #BigMathematicalIdeas

Evaluating the evaluation of psychology in UK universities… @lizstokoe.bsky.social @mjinglis.bsky.social @colinfoster77.bsky.social @hugolf.bsky.social @profvicsimms.bsky.social share tales from the Research Excellence Framework. www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

** NEW ** Open Access article with Eletta Rainsford in @springernature.com found that students' confidence in their answers did not become better calibrated when they received feedback over the course of 9 questions. We found interesting gender effects: doi.org/10.1007/s107...

For anyone interested in #psychology, #research assessment and evaluation, how the expert panel rated research submitted to #REF2021 - and especially the fate of #qualitative research - our article in Cogent Psychology is #OpenAccess (link in next post). 1/2

** NEW ** Open Access article with Aidan Stannard in @ssma1901.bsky.social found that mathematics teachers who practised predicting students' responses to diagnostic questions diagnosticquestions.com improved dramatically in a short time period. doi.org/10.1111/ssm....

** NEW ** Open Access article with Jacob Strauss and Tim Jay in the Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education on using the Cover-Copy-Compare technique to develop secondary school students’ mathematical procedural fluency with straight-line graphs. doi.org/10.1007/s423...

In #mathstoday, inspired by @colinfoster77.bsky.social’s Mathematical Etudes, we’ve been combining mathematical thinking and fluency practice 😁 lots of rich conversations all round. Not bad for the last day of a very long term! 😴

Great paper by @colinfoster77.bsky.social and colleagues on applying principles of cognitive science in mathematics curriculum design. Not surprised to read that "Research-based design principles derived from sanitised experimental situations can be difficult to implement in specific real instances"

**NEW** paper from my fabulously talented colleague @bethwoollacott.bsky.social who’s work aims to bring research and practice in the early years closer together

"Effective research communication in education: Early years practitioners' views of research summaries" In my newest paper, I discuss the importance of understanding how early years practitioners engage with research & what I learnt from speaking to them.💡 Free access here: doi.org/10.1002/rev3...

Free open access article published today @tandfresearch.bsky.social about the challenges faced by Ukrainian refugee students learning mathematics in UK schools: doi.org/10.1080/0305... @colinfoster77.bsky.social

** NEW ** Open Access article in Asian Journal for Mathematics Education on how school students’ mathematical confidence develops across a sequence of low-stakes formative assessments: doi.org/10.1177/2752...