Maths learing easy

Madurai:Catch five and leave three … multiply tens and add ones… When Meena Suresh, director, Ramanujan Museum and Math Education Centre (RMMEC), gave instructions over the public address system, teachers slowly turned into students and had fun with counting, using fingers and playing with colour mathematical kits to learn multiplication tables.“Why should children be forced to memorise multiplication tables when they can learn them on their own without toiling,” A.T.B. Bose, secretary, RMMEC, said.Students developed hatred towards mathematics at an early age as they are forced to memorise concepts.

Mathematical concepts and numbers could be visualised and students could explore and learn the concepts involving themselves in various activities. Maths could pave way for alternative solving methods. Hence to reach out to the students, RMMEC had been conducting a series of workshops for teachers, he said.“The workshop is the tip of an iceberg. With the given guidelines, teachers have to explore new techniques to make the class more interacting, exploring and interesting for students,” Mr. Bose said.RMMEC organised a third workshop in Madurai on June 15 and 16 to help the teachers understand effective teaching methods of mathematics with effective kits.

The first day concentrated on a wide range of 12 topics, including place value, multiplication tables, division, equal grouping, distribution and repeated subtraction forming shapes, introduction of percentage and addition and subtraction of rational numbers for teachers of standard I to V.On the second day, the participants concentrated on various topics, including area of triangles, four operations of integers, interior angle of polygon, finding apothem, area of polygon, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of algebraic expression and a different approach for Pythagoras Theorem for teachers of standard VI to X. As many as 22 primary teachers from various schools participated.

To kindle the interest in learning maths that would provide huge space for creativity and imagination and help children to get rid of maths phobia, RMMEC had planned to organise a ‘Maths Fest’ on June 17 (Sunday).Any student who wanted to get rid of this phobia and enjoy the world of numbers could drop in at Sangeetha Mahal near Mariamman Teppakulam.The entry was free and students studying in I to X standards could pay a visit to the venue along with parents between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.