CLIx Maths Rollout in Two Schools in Jaipur, Rajasthan (22.09.17)
Two members of the CLIx maths team visited two schools in Jaipur district on 22 September 2017 for rollout observation of Class 9 students. When we arrived at Gohandi High School, we were delighted to see ninth graders in the computer lab along with their teacher, Mr Vijay Shukla. There were 24 students (12 girls and 12 boys). They were using the Food Sharing tool in the Proportional Reasoning module. It is a digital tool to cut cakes in a chosen number of pieces and share them among individuals or groups of people. ‘Vijay Sir’ had anticipated that students would be comfortable with the food sharing tool, and it was encouraging to see that most students were doing the activities on their own.
We witnessed a few interesting moments with students. A group of boys was solving a problem of sharing food among two unequal groups, where 12 parathas had to be distributed equally among groups of 2 children and 6 children. At first, one group of students distributed 6 parathas to both the groups. Then, they themselves realised that this distribution would be unfair! Two students calculated mentally and concluded that, if both groups were combined, each child would get one and a half parathas. Using the cutting tool, they verified their answer, and other members of the group were convinced. It was refreshing to see students engaging in reasoning about fractions using the sharing tool.
Maths Rollout at Gohandi High School, Jaipur District
In another instance, a group of girls completed the cake sharing activity correctly without any prompting, but unfortunately, due to some Windows graphics confusion, they mistakenly closed the browser!
We were wondering about the students’ proficiency in using the mouse and the keyboard. The teacher told us that he usually asks his students to play with the computer and draw shapes in MS Paint to give them practice in using the mouse and the keyboard. It was really wonderful to see the results of that practice.
The Mind Reader Game
Girls reading Jamuni Story at Government. Adarsh Senior Secondary School
Mind Reader evoked deep interest among the students.In this activity, we can guess the number in another person’s mind! Students were amazed to see maths tricks, and one of them asked,‘How did you make these [mind reader] tables?’
After concluding discussions with Vijay sir, the CLIx team headed to Government Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Harsolia, where Ms. Jyotsna teaches maths. Students in this school played with the food sharing tool but faced frequent electricity supply problems. Most of them had problems in understanding fractions; however, the class was happy to work with computers.
(Sumegh Paltiwale, Intern, Math Team, CLIx)
