Operational research (OR) is a ‘signpost’ career for young people who enjoy studying mathematics and problem solving, but aren’t sure how they might use these skills in the workplace. We provide examples and materials for free which are full of great examples of how maths is used to solve ‘real-world’ problems and present OR as an interesting and fulfilling career. Just complete an ORiE visit request form and we’ll sort out a free visit to your school or college.
The OR Society have created 8 school-level workshops to communicate OR techniques to students. The materials we provide (for free!) are designed to help students and teachers by providing some great examples of maths being used to help solve ‘real-world’ problems and present OR as an interesting and fulfilling career.These teaching resources can also be found on the teachers’ resources section of the TES website:
The OR Society on TES teachers' resources website
Check out and download our workshops below:
Use Lego and simple algebra to design a profitable furniture range for a furniture factory.
Race through a snakes-and-ladders style game based on life and career choices in OR.
Students will be organising theatre seating for individuals and groups, exploring how to use space efficiently.
Teams race to fold paper cups, improving their process through timed trials and basic data analysis.
Plan and schedule the steps to cook dinner and clean up – all in time to catch a film with friends.
Plan a school trip to a theme park, solving logistics to make sure no ride is missed.
Assign students to sports teams based on skills and preferences to win sports day.
Build and solve numerical mazes using algorithms, finding the optimal path to reach a target total in the fewest steps.
For other useful OR videos to share with your students, please visit The OR Society's Youtube channel.
“Sessions were fun, interactive and engaging. Fantastic resources and great delivery. Content was fully relatable to school maths. Nice extension opportunities." – Mounts Bay Academy, Cornwall
“Liked the hands-on learning, linking maths and especially algebra to real life situations. Linked in a lot of topics. Worksheets and presentation flowed very well.” – Abbeyfield School, Northampton
“Excellent to have an interactive activity that the students could carry out. They engaged with it positively and then developed it into an understanding of Operational Research. Excellent to have someone who could give real life examples of application” – Big Bang Workshop, London
"Having spoken to students who attended, I am aware that they gained a great deal from your talk and have a much better knowledge about what roles are available in the workplace which will assist them greatly in researching their long term career plans." – Teacher, High Wycombe
“Good content, mix of slides and video clips. He was well prepared – informative and interesting. Thank you.” – Careers Advisor, High Wycombe