Fibonacci’s numbers appear in relationships between Earth’s and Venus’s orbits.

This is just one of many real life examples of Fibonacci’s sequence, which can be examined to introduce pupils to the following topics:

  • Ratio and proportion
  • Sequence
  • Patterns within pictures

Alan Bannister, Head of Maths at the University of Birmingham School, was inspired to suggest this teaching idea after hearing,The beauty of visual mathematics, a talk given by geometer-artist Tom Bree at the 2015/16 New Teacher Subject Days course for Maths teachers.

Schools Programme members can download the resources from the event in the PTI Staffroom.

Want to discover more inspiring subject knowledge? See our upcoming events and courses for 2016/17, including our Mathematics Autumn Residential for Subject Leaders, and CPD Subject Day: Algebra – problem solved!.

Find more knowledge nuggets here.

Image: By Esdras Calderan from Santos, SP, Brazil (Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons