Journey into the world of maths
S.S. KAVITHA
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How can teachers make maths more interesting? Try a Maths Lab.
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NO NEED TO FEAR NUMBERS: Make maths fun in schools.
There are different kinds of phobias — fear of darkness, fear of demons, fear of height, fear of insects and reptiles, but these differ depending on the individual. But a common fear for most school students is "maths phobia" or fear of numbers.
Many students suffer from this phobia and, to avoid numbers, many opt for subjects without maths at the higher secondary level.
Origin
"The origin of the fear can be due to two reasons — one, the students do not understand the functioning of numbers. Two, the teachers make it uninteresting," says Dr. Gananath, a senior scientist-turned-Maths educator, who took to teaching in schools and now runs "Suvidya", an organisation to promote Maths in schools.
According to him, integration with lesson plans is often superficial.
So students don't understand how and what they do in a laboratory is related to what they learn in the classrooms. Traditionally, Maths is taught primarily as a set of algorithms aimed at getting the correct answer to a problem.
The assessment is geared towards checking if the algorithms are followed. This traditional approach has killed "Maths appreciation and creativity in Maths learning", as it aims at excellence only in the computational aspect of Maths.
To make Maths more interesting, Educational Initiatives (EI), a research organisation that works in the fields of diagnostic assessment, teacher training, curriculum services and basic research with schools, organised a two-day Maths Lab workshop at Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Rajapalayam. The EI organised the workshop in collaboration with Dr. Gananath, who is a pioneer in setting up Maths labs through simple yet elegant Maths activities, kits, charts and games.
Dr. Gananath says setting up a Maths lab is an "environment" that promotes "Mathematical" thought through exploration, experimentation, experience and analysis. He helped teachers through a journey into the world of Maths and helped them make models, charts and activities aimed at addressing common problem areas in Primary and Secondary School.
Activities
The workshop concentrated on several activities including number relations, operation with numbers such as addition, subtraction, geometry and algebras apart from sessions on "why a maths lab?", components of the lab, resources on the Internet and puzzles in mathematics. At the end of the second day, teachers were able to appreciate and link the workshop experience to the classroom. "Each activity helped us develop creative skills and appreciate numbers apart from helping us create a Maths Lab in school," said one teacher. The workshop also gave teachers concrete, real-world application of the mathematical concepts they had been teaching.
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