Dr Rehan Shah delivered an enthralling Mathematics Masterclass on 'Heuristic Reasoning and the Art of Problem-Solving' to a class of Year 12 A-Level Mathematics students from the Mulberry School for Girls in East London as part of their STEM Academic Masterclass series on Wed 8 January 2025. As part of this Outreach initiative, he was also joined by Prof Liz Tanner who presented an innovative Materials Science Masterclass on 'Materials to Replace Bone'.

Building on his experience as a former secondary school teacher of mathematics, Dr Shah modelled his session along the lines of his self-developed outreach course inspired by the famous Hungarian-American mathematician George Polya's mathematical exposition 'How to Solve It' written in 1945 which documents the key stages of problem-solving. The masterclass comprised a selection of interesting conundrums and thought-provoking questions (including three entirely different problems showcasing the importance of the Golden Ratio) in addition to a variety of scaffolded Cambridge STEP exam questions. The motivation behind this was to to highlight the beauty, elegance and recreational pleasure of problem-solving, so students can employ the techniques of heuristic reasoning to unravel the magic of mathematics.

The session prompted interesting discussion and insights from the class of 15 female students, prompting the school to showcase the impact of the masterclass through a post on their X social media page stating:

"Huge thanks to Dr Rehan Shah from QMUL for delivering an engaging Mathematics masterclass on Heuristic Reasoning and the Art of Problem Solving to Y12 Maths A Level students! The session really empowered students to think critically and creatively!"