Maths at the Big Bang Fair: Everywhere and Nowhere

I've just got back from 2026's Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham, having last attended in 2024. On both occasions my attendance was as a volunteer for an organisation whose name I won't mention here because I want it to be clear that these are my thoughts rather than theirs. This year, I left feeling thoughtful. In contrast, my experience in 2024 left me frustrated enough to decline an invitation to return in 2025. To introduce the source of that frustration, I invite you to play a game of 'spot the difference':

Spot the difference: lanyards from The Big Bang Fair 2024 (left) and 2026 (right)

The return of the "M" to Big Bang's branding was encouraging. But after three days at the fair, I came away wondering whether mathematics had really returned in any meaningful sense. Maths was everywhere at the event, yet almost nowhere was it recognised as maths.

The organisers and many exhibitors alike seemed reluctant even to acknowledge its presence. If you're curious about the visibility of maths in Big Bang's public-facing material head over to www.thebigbang.org.uk and see how many mentions of maths you can find that aren't merely a reminder of what the M in "STEM" stands for^[3].

The Problem

On the surface, the event itself is reflective of this: the organiser I spoke of earlier told me that they were glad that the organisation I was representing had turned up because otherwise there would be no maths at all^[1]. This is not, strictly speaking, true. I spent some time exploring the hall and visiting as many stands as I could. My observations broadly fell into three categories:

1. Maths was Everywhere

Throughout the hall I found activities involving probability, decision-making, data visualisation, statistical reasoning and other mathematical ideas. Yet none of them were presented as maths activities. Instead, they were framed solely through their application area: radiotherapy, manufacturing, engineering, and so on. I managed to speak to some of the people running these activities, and very few mentioned maths until I brought it up, and even then most either looked uncomfortable or brightly and amiably changed the subject away from maths. One responded "oh, absolutely, there's loads of maths: my job and most of this field wouldn't even exist without maths, and to be honest it's one of the most important prerequisites in terms of exams and things". When asked if they mentioned that to students who visited their stand, the response was "no, we don't want to put them off!"

Mentioning this theme to others, the response is often that surely the fact that they are doing mathematics is what matters; they're still practising the skills even if they don't realise it's maths! I feel very strongly that one of the purposes of providing such extra-curricular opportunities is to help young people to explore and hopefully improve their relationships with and attitudes to STEM subjects, and mathematics is one discipline with a particular need for this at the moment.

I have a terrible relationship with wasps. If the friendliest wasp imaginable interacted with me only through a remotely operated fluffy robot puppy, and nobody told me there was a wasp involved, my opinion of wasps wouldn't change. In the same way, if young people enjoy a mathematical activity without realising that it is mathematical, we shouldn't be surprised when their attitudes towards maths remain unchanged.

If we want to improve people's relationships with maths, giving them opportunities to engage with interesting, useful or, dare I say it, fun activities that relate to mathematics in some way is only part of the solution: we also need to help them realise that it is maths.

2. Maths Was Visible but Unexplained

Some exhibitors had chosen to include posters or other display material that included imagery or text that most people would quickly associate with mathematics. These mostly included numbers, calculations, basic graphs and charts, and the occasional simple drawing of a shape with maths-exam-style labels. I spotted a handful of what might possibly have been artists' impressions of protractors. In almost all cases, they were accompanied by no explanation whatsoever. Where there was an explanation, it was often either at a level far too high for the fair's target audience, or it was oversimplified to the point of being dismissive.

3. Maths Was Sometimes Misrepresented

Following closely on the heels of observation #2 was that on the few occasions I spotted something that was proudly labelled "MATHS", the associated activity was a thinly-veiled excuse to practise recalling times tables or doing a calculation. In some cases such activities were being used to demonstrate the idea that people who wanted to join that particular profession needed to be "quick thinkers".^[2]

Whilst points 2 & 3 above undoubtedly come from widespread misunderstanding amongst the adult population about what maths is, what it's for, and who can do it, I don't think they represent a particularly big problem in the case of Big Bang and other STEM fairs. In fact, I think that if the problems behind point 1 can be solved, the issues of 2 & 3 will fade into the background.

If that diagnosis is broadly correct, then the challenge isn't creating more mathematical activities: they exist and are being used. The challenge is making the maths visible and helping exhibitors feel confident talking about it^[5].

Solutions?

I wondered about producing some kind of poster or even a sticker to give out to stands when it was noticed that some maths was happening, especially where it wasn't necessarily obvious or explained that it was maths. Someone suggested attending armed with a box full of tiny toothpicks-in-wine-corks flags to present to an exhibitor who was running a maths activity without realising it^[4]. Someone else suggested something quirkier might be more effective, such as rubber ducks with something like "Congratulations! You've found a maths duck!" printed on the side and, aspirationally, a QR code leading to a page about why the thing you've marked with the duck is mathematics.

This was my favourite idea from the fair (some discussions involved only myself). It seems like a fun way to start conversations about maths, and it would be relatively easy to implement as a proof of concept, with opportunities to develop it further should it gain momentum.

Whether the answer is ducks, stickers, flags or something else entirely, I think STEM fairs have an opportunity (maybe a responsibility?) to make maths more visible than they currently do.

What do you think?

• What do you think about this idea for improving the profile of maths at STEM fairs and festivals? 
• Have you seen examples of STEM fairs or festivals - or individual exhibitors - that do a particularly good job of making maths visible?
• Is this a problem, or do you think I'm wrong to care about this?

Footnotes

1. I said I didn't want to name the organisation I was representing as I wanted it to be very clear that these are my thoughts and not theirs, but it wouldn't be hard to pick out which one it was from the list of exhibitors. [back]
2. Yawn. [back]
3. Genuinely, I'd love to hear what you find. [back]
4. Prompted, I hesitate to report, by recalling a more scatological project. [back]
5. If you are an exhibitor, I could help with this: just get in touch [back].