Connecting the concepts in our students’ minds.
To a secondary school maths student, we teach Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics, Coordinate Geometry… But, very rarely, we tell them what was discovered first, what came next, what was the need/ thought process behind the discovery of altogether a new branch of mathematics. Yes, I mean the timeline of discoveries. We don’t show them how these mathematical islands are interconnected via beautiful bridges.
Showing them the timeline of discoveries helps them in connecting the concepts in a much better way.
A Math workshop without ‘pen and paper’.
We need few Maths workshops without pen and paper.
We need to bridge this gap.
I want to show them these beautiful bridges, I want them to explore this subject , find the connections , be amazed by the thought processes behind these discoveries.
These kind of exploration will ignite their curiosity, encourage their creativity and nurture their intuition.
We need to tell them the process how these math discoveries were made by human beings like us.
I strongly feel that we have lost the human aspect of Math during our way of teaching mathematics.
Children don’t get any clue about the sequence of these discoveries or the thinking process behind these discoveries.
If we expect our children to ‘learn’ / to be interested in learning maths with this mindset, it is something like asking a depressed person to give us a smile. He/she can pass a fake smile easily. But, A person can not genuinely smile until he/she talks about the depressing situations thoroughly and comes over it.
The first and most important thing is to talk about it first.
The first and most important thing is to talk about it first.
I would like to invite children to come and talk about Maths, Maths anxieties, Maths fears, Maths confusions, Maths aha moments….. During such talk session, they will get to know that they are not alone in this situation and it is not their mistake at all to be in this situation.
It will surely give them some confidence to try learning the subject once again. Thats what we are looking forward to – to overcome the illusional fears and have a courage to restart it again. I know, everybody is not going to be mathematician. But the point here is that You can not quit Mathematics until few more years. I just want to take away pain and ease that learning process for you.
In this process of making Maths Simple & Visual for you, if you develop genuine interest in the subject it will be a big Woohoo moment for me. As I know how satisfying it is to be able to appreciate Maths. I also dont know lot of Maths but yes I appreciate the subject for its beauty, utility, logic, creativity, intuition…… Lets uncover the hidden beauty of this subject together! Looking forward to have an amazing Talk about Maths with all of you.
If I offer a 7 – course meal to you in a completely new cuisine for you. Or, if I offer a 7 course meal, completely jumbled up from various cuisines and that too without any instructions.
I present everything in front of you but with no clear instructions as in what is appetiser, what is a side dish what is dessert etc? There are very rare chances that you might relish the taste/meal without knowing a bit about various dishes.
Something similar happens to most of the secondary school maths students. They have been offered with Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics, Coordinate Geometry. But, we do not tell them what was discovered first, what came next, yes I mean the timeline of discoveries. Showing them the timeline of discoveries help them in connecting the concepts in much better way.
then what was the need/ thought process behind the discovery of altogether a new branch of mathematics. We don’t show them how these mathematical islands are interconnected via beautiful bridges.
