PUPILS should be taught maths across the curriculum to make it more relevant to everyday life, a computer games expert has said.
Chris van der Kuyl, who helped develop Minecraft Xbox 360, said teaching maths in its current "silo" stopped pupils from seeing how important it was.
Writing in The Herald he said: "In my world, there’s no life of a software engineer or artist in computer games without maths. It’s the number one skill over everything.
"I have a constant stream of kids coming to me saying they want to get into this field. I say “you do realise that means you need to get as far in maths as you can”.
"Take away the fancy lights on a computer game and it’s just a maths engine behind it. It makes a lot of them realise they can’t avoid it."
The comments come at a time when the number of pupils sitting maths and core science subjects at Higher has suffered a shock decline after several years of progress.
The drop comes amidst repeated warnings that Scotland is facing a shortage of pupils leaving school with the required skills to meet Scotland's economic needs with experts believing the drop is down to a number of factors including perceptions that maths is more difficult to study.
However, a Scottish Government-led campaign to get more pupils interested in maths has already been launched with the aim of transforming the image of the subject by showing people it is about more than “hard sums”.
Mr van de Kuyl, who has backed the Making Maths Count campaign, said attitudes had to be changed in primary school before pupils decided what subjects they were interested in.
He said: "You need five, six and seven-year-olds to get excited about maths, but a lot of primary teachers possibly don’t have maths at the top of their agenda.
"I still think there’s not enough of a focus on taking maths in to other subject areas, because that’s where it becomes real. For example, in code-breaking you can combine maths with literacy, looking at formulas in words and word patterns.
"Art is another obvious one – it’s full of maths, such as the rule of thirds. Bring that out and that big cohort of brilliant visual people who said they couldn’t do maths suddenly can.
"And music, one of my passions, is all about mathematical patterns. Even down to the level where you look at the maths that governs the frequencies we hear. It’s a fantastic tool to teach maths."
Maureen McKenna, executive director of education at Glasgow City Council and chair of the Making Maths Count group, backed Mr van Kuyl's call.
She said: “We need to challenge attitudes in our society that it is acceptable – or even desirable – to say you can’t do maths.
"In a world where the role and impact of technology and science is soaring, it will hold us back both as individuals and as a nation, as a strong economy depends on having a numerate workforce.
“Sound maths skills lead to better decision-making, whether it’s balancing your finances, planning a trip, or being able to engage with so many of the big debates in our world today, from climate change to the economy."
Making Maths Count will publish its recommendations before the end of June.
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