Exploring how simple, interactive digital tools can help learners understand mathematics, build confidence and engage more actively in the classroom.

Why I started building these resources

One of the challenges of teaching mathematics in Further Education (and to Health and Care learners specifically) is finding ways to make abstract concepts accessible, particularly for learners who may have had difficult experiences of maths in the past.

Many of our learners arrive with gaps in their mathematical knowledge, limited confidence or a belief that maths is simply something they cannot do. As lecturers, we need to find different ways of explaining familiar topics, allowing learners to experiment, ask questions and see the mathematics happening in front of them.

Over the past few weeks, I have been developing a collection of interactive mathematics applications designed specifically for classroom use.

The aim has been straightforward: create resources that make mathematical ideas visual, interactive and easier to explore.

Rather than producing another collection of worksheets or presentations, I wanted to build tools that could be projected onto a classroom screen, manipulated during explanations and used to encourage discussion.

The result is an expanding collection of free, browser-based resources.

Explore the complete Maths Resources collection

1. Maths Teaching: Bringing mathematical concepts to life

The first group of applications focuses on some of the mathematical concepts that learners can find particularly difficult to visualise.

Algebra Explorer

Collecting like terms, expanding brackets and simplifying expressions are fundamental algebra skills, but learners often struggle to understand why each step is necessary.

The Algebra Explorer allows a lecturer to enter an algebraic expression and work through its simplification visually.

Individual terms are colour-coded, expressions can be expanded, and the collection of like terms is shown step by step.

For example, an expression such as:

3x + 4y − 2x + 5y

can be separated into groups of like terms before the simplified expression is revealed.

The resource is particularly useful for whole-class teaching because each stage can be discussed before moving to the next.

It also supports more complicated expressions involving brackets and equations, helping learners see the relationship between each stage of the calculation.

Prime Factor Explorer

Prime factor decomposition is another topic where a visual explanation can make a significant difference.

The Prime Factor Explorer builds a factor tree one stage at a time, decomposing a number into its prime factors.

When two numbers are entered, the application can also demonstrate how prime factors are used to calculate the Highest Common Factor (HCF) and Lowest Common Multiple (LCM).

A visual Venn diagram helps learners understand which factors are shared and which are unique to each number.

It moves the activity beyond memorising a procedure and towards understanding why the method works.

Geometry and Shape Explorers

Several applications focus on geometry, where movement and visualisation are particularly valuable.

The Polygon Explorer allows learners to investigate the interior and exterior angles of regular polygons. By increasing or decreasing the number of sides, learners can identify patterns and explore the relationship between interior angles, exterior angles and the total number of sides.

The Pythagoras Explorer provides a moveable and rotatable right-angled triangle, allowing different side lengths and orientations to be explored. Answers can be hidden while learners predict or calculate missing values.

The Bearings Explorer provides a visual representation of bearings, complete with a clearly defined north direction and the opportunity to generate practice questions.

A further Transformations Explorer demonstrates translation using column vectors, reflection, rotation and symmetry on a Cartesian coordinate grid.

Together, these tools make it possible to change a mathematical diagram instantly, rather than repeatedly drawing different examples on the board.

Browse the interactive teaching tools

2. Classroom Resources: Supporting explanation, practice and assessment

The second group of resources is designed to support the day-to-day activities that take place in a mathematics classroom.

A key feature of many of the applications is a dedicated full-screen teaching mode.

When projected onto a large screen, unnecessary menus and controls can be hidden, leaving the mathematical diagram or expression as the focus of attention.

Font sizes, colours and line thicknesses can also be adjusted to improve visibility.

This might appear to be a relatively small feature, but it makes a substantial difference when teaching a room of learners with different seating positions and visual needs.

Encouraging prediction before revealing answers

One feature I particularly wanted was the ability to hide the result of a calculation or transformation.

For example, when teaching reflection, I can display the original shape and the mirror line but hide the reflected image.

Learners can then predict where the image will appear before the answer is revealed.

The same approach can be applied to missing sides in Pythagoras, algebraic simplification or angle calculations.

This changes the resource from something that simply demonstrates a procedure into something that encourages questioning, prediction and mathematical reasoning.

Flashcards and self-guided tutorials

Alongside the visual explorers, I have been developing resources to support independent study.

The Maths Flashcards application offers topic-based question decks that learners can work through at their own pace.

Topics include fractions, percentages, ratio, algebra, geometry, probability, trigonometry and many other GCSE mathematics skills.

The Maths Tutorial application takes this a stage further, combining explanations, worked examples and opportunities for learners to practise.

These resources are intended to complement classroom teaching and provide a way for learners to revisit topics between lessons.

They can also help learners who need additional support or who wish to practise a particular skill independently.

Explore the classroom and revision resources

3. Enrichment: Making maths a challenge worth tackling

Not every mathematics activity needs to resemble an examination question.

Sometimes the best way to encourage learners to engage is to introduce an element of curiosity, competition or problem-solving.

The Maths Challenge is an example of this approach.

Inspired by puzzle-based activities, it presents a sequence of ten mathematical challenges. Solving one problem reveals the information needed to progress to the next.

Rather than simply completing a worksheet, learners work towards solving the overall challenge.

The questions can bring together skills from different areas of mathematics, including fractions, ratios, calculations, percentages and problem-solving.

This type of resource is particularly useful during enrichment activities, progress weeks or sessions where the aim is to encourage learners to apply their knowledge in unfamiliar situations.

It also offers opportunities for paired work, discussion and collaboration.

Explore the Maths Challenge and enrichment activities

4. Designed around the realities of FE teaching

Throughout the development process, I have tried to keep several principles in mind.

First, the technology should not become the lesson. A resource needs to be simple enough to use without spending valuable teaching time explaining the controls.

Second, learners should be able to see the mathematics clearly. Large diagrams, clearly labelled values, contrasting colours and the option to hide unnecessary information all support this.

Third, the applications should encourage discussion rather than replace it. The lecturer still plays the central role in questioning learners, identifying misconceptions and connecting visual demonstrations to mathematical reasoning.

Finally, the resources should be easy to access. Most are designed as lightweight web applications that run directly in a browser, without requiring learners to install additional software.

5. An evolving collection of resources

An interesting aspect of this project has been the development process itself.

Many of the applications have evolved through several versions, with changes made after testing how they work on screen and considering how they might be used in a real lesson.

Sometimes these are small adjustments, such as making a label larger or repositioning a triangle.

Other changes involve adding entirely new teaching features, such as step-by-step calculations, movable shapes, answer-reveal controls or printable questions.

Increasingly, this process also demonstrates how AI-assisted coding can be used by lecturers to create bespoke teaching tools without needing to develop large software packages.

The important part is identifying the teaching need, testing the resource and refining it until it is genuinely useful.

6. Where next?

This collection is continuing to grow, and there are many more opportunities to explore interactive approaches to mathematics teaching.

My intention is not to replace established teaching methods, worksheets or traditional explanations. Instead, these applications provide an additional set of tools that can help make difficult concepts more understandable.

For learners who lack confidence in mathematics, being able to move a shape, change a number, test a prediction or watch an expression simplify can help make the subject feel less abstract.

Sometimes a small change in how something is presented can make a considerable difference to how it is understood.

All the resources are available through the Maths Resources website, organised into three sections: Maths Teaching, Classroom and Enrichment.

They are free to explore and use, and I hope other lecturers and teachers find them useful in their own teaching.

Visit the Maths Resources Collection – glengilchrist.co.uk/maths

Glen Gilchrist

Mathematics FE Lecturer

Nothing “negative” about that, no political comments there, but it is uniquely true that the extent of resources specifically aligned to WJEC Mathematics is somewhat limited compared to the likes of AQA, Edexcel etc. Now that makes sense from a commercial perspective, but for learners it does mean somewhat slimmer pickings.

So, I decided to write my own Flash Card app – specifically targeted to the mathematics that we have tailored to the Health and Care courses on which I teach.

Here it is – a simple web app that serves a deck of flash cards. Link to WJEC GCSE maths flashcards

The cards support a 7-day revision schedule, with 5 questions per topic.

Now that I’m back to lecturing in an FE college, it’s time to bring back the blog – both as a space to make sense of my work and to share with students resources that might be helpful.

So, here it is. Excited!