The Case Study problems are teaching units, each of which support 3 to 5 lessons on a problem from outside mathematics. They are designed to develop thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills. This puts substance into the Key Concepts and Processes of the new Programme of Study (PoS) for Key Stage 3 – aspects of the National Curriculum that are less familiar to many teachers. Between them, the Case Studies cover most of the PoS.

The Case Studies are very different from each other and have been developed by a wide range of developers. Each one is rich in mathematical possibilities and provides pupils and their teachers with interesting and exciting problems on topics that pupils find fun and engaging. The topics range from the real world to pure fantasy.

The problems make extensive use of ‘open' questions, to which there is often no one right answer; most require a number of steps and each can be explored at various levels of depth by pupils of differing abilities. Each Case Study contains materials for pupils to use in the classroom as well as teachers' notes and lesson plans. Most, but not all, the Case Studies require access to some form of ICT.

Each Case Study took about 18 months to develop. In addition to fieldwork tests by its developer, each one was subjected to ‘action' tests in two ‘cold trial' schools by independent evaluators; the feedback from the trials was used in further development work. Over 100 schools have been involved in the development of the Case Studies.

The Outline Descriptions will help teachers to choose which Case Studies ones to explore – although over time, it is a good idea to look at them all as they are very diverse. The Portraits provide a quick reference and comparison guide, but they are no substitute for exploring the full Case Studies themselves - which can be found on the Bowland Player.

The Comparison Charts provide, for each Case Study:

•	Two lines on the maths involved
•	Time required in terms of lessons
•	Suitability by pupil level
•	Resources needed
•	Links to KS3 Programme of Study