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THE SHROPSHIRE MATHEMATICS EXPERIMENT

The Shropshire Mathematics Experiment (SME) arose through a demand from teachers in 1963. 'The call for change in Shropshire came from Shropshire teachers, particularly from Modern School teachers who felt there was hope for the improvement of their work in the future if they introduced "modern" mathematics.'* So wrote Raymond Heritage in 1965, a lecturer in mathematics of student teachers at Cheshire College of Education.

The early books were not expected to be the finished product but part of an iterative process to create an excellent product. 'Teachers in SME are developing a highly critical attitude to the text (which has been beautifully produced for us in its temporary form by Penguin Books). As a result of their views, the text will be modified, expanded and partly re-written. As one man said, "We want a perfect textbook".'*

These books, which began as a set of four texts, were published in 1965 and 1966 as a new series The Shropshire Mathematics Experiment ('SM') and designed for teaching the New Mathematics. They were all written by Raymond S. Heritage.

However, in 1967, Penguin Books established a separate Education division specifically to produce books for schools and colleges. Penguin Education wanted to have a major impact on schoolbooks, breaking new ground in their concept and design.

Penguin had recently tried similar projects: Hummingbird Books for Caribbean Schools, books from the Nuffield Science Teaching Project (1965), and had just started the Penguin History of Britain (SH, 1967) series. It had already begun the Shropshire Mathematics Experiment in 1965 when the decision was taken to create the new Penguin Education Division and launch the new series Penguin Education, 'X' in 1967.

NOTE: The books listed below either appeared as early Shropshire Mathematics Experiment books in their own right - as part of the 'SM' series - or they were intended for the 'SM' series. However, as mentioned above, in 1967 Penguin created its Education Division and so revisions of existing books and planned new books were re-located into the 'X' series at X30 and from X401.

I particularly want to thank Andrew Malin and Paul Lickiss for their help and encouragement, and information on the books. The Shropshire Mathematics Experiment may have begun in isolation but was soon brought into the Penguin Education fold. Similarly, listing the Penguin Education Series 'X' has been a joint endeavour, and this page is but one offshoot.

*The Mathematics Gazette, May 1965

Information and cover photographs of The Shropshire Mathermatics Experiment Series:

SM1	Series No.: SM1 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, BOOK ONE Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Keith Whitehead Date Published: Summer 1966 Pages: 278pp. Printer: Fletcher and Sons Ltd Size: 222mm x 180mm Image and additional information courtesy of Andrew Malin
SM2	Series No.: SM2 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, BOOK TWO Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Keith Whitehead, illustrates the principles of translation, rotation and reflection Date Published: Summer 1965 Pages: 238pp. Printer: Fletcher and Sons Ltd Size: 222mm x 180mm A revision or 'Final' edition was produced in 1967. The second image, of the second printing, shows the 'Test Edition' which contains Tests Images and additional information courtesy of Andrew Malin
SMT1	Series No.: SMT1 (on Q100 list as SM15) Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS BOOK ONE AND BOOK TWO: PARENTS' AND TEACHERS' HANDBOOK Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Keith Whitehead shows the locus of the centre of the [mis-spelt: circumcircle] circumference of a simple closed curve of constant diameter as it rolls inside a circle Date Published: Summer 1966 Pages: 240pp. Printer: Cox and Wyman Ltd
SM3	Series No.: SM3 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, BOOK THREE Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: Summer 1966 Pages: Printer:
SM4	Series No.: SM4 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, BOOK FOUR Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: October 1967 Pages: Printer:
SM5	Series No.: SM5 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, STAGE 5: MOTION GEOMETRY AND VECTOR GEOMETRY Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: Pages: Printer:
SM6	Series No.: SM6 Entry: No information available. SM6 was originally intended to be Computer Programming for Schools by Audrey Rich and scheduled to be issued in January 1970. No such book was published.
SM7	Series No.: SM7 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, BOOK 4M Authors: Raymond Sydney Heritage and William Islwyn Lewis Cover: design by Date Published: January 1970 Pages: Printer:
SM8	Series No.: SM8 Title: LEARNING DECIMAL CURRENCY Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: January 1969 Pages: Printer:
SM9	Series No.: SM9 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, STAGE 5: MOTION GEOMETRY AND VECTOR GEOMETRY Authors: Raymond Sydney Heritage and William Islwyn Lewis Cover: design by Date Published: Pages: Printer:
SM10	Series No.: SM10 Entry: No information available
SM11	Series No.: SM11 Entry: No information available
SM12	Series No.: SM12 Entry: No information available
SM13	Series No.: SM13 Entry: No information available
SM14	Series No.: SM14 Entry: No information available
SMT1 (SM15)	Series No.: SM15 published as SMT1 Entry: See SMT1 above (1966)
SM16	Series No.: SM16 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, STAGE 5 : NUEMRICAL MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: Pages: Printer:
SM17	Series No.: SM17 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, STAGE 5 : STATISTICS AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: Pages: Printer:
SM18	Series No.: SM18 Title: LEARNING MATHEMATICS, STAGE 5 : REVISION EXERCISES AND FURTHER WORK Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: Pages: Printer:
SM19	Series No.: SM19 Title: ANSWERS TO LEARNING MATHEMATICS BOOKS 1, 2, 3M, 4M (METRIC) Author: Raymond Sydney Heritage Cover: design by Date Published: Pages: Printer:

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