Maths: shaping up nicely!
Over the last few months, the Maths team has been developing a module that will enable students to enjoy geometry, and get a better understanding of geometrical ideas. Both digital and hands-on activities are part of the design. Before rolling the module out on a large scale, the team felt it necessary to try out the activities first. So we have been conducting trials (in non-school settings) with small groups of students from schools around the Mankhurd area In Mumbai. These students have just entered the 8th Std. – a highly energetic bunch!
The trials were all about understanding basic geometrical concepts, through both hands-on activities, and digital applications like games. The activities involved working with materials like paper and matchsticks to construct and explore shapes – the process was also meant to provoke learners to think about the properties of shapes.
Learning about shapes by making them
“If squares and rectangles both have 4 sides and 4 right angles, then how are they different?”
Questions were a crucial component of these sessions – those posed by the facilitator, to trigger thinking, and also those like the one above, that came from the learners themselves! These questions led to interesting discussions about geometrical ideas.
In one session, students were introduced to a Logo Turtle application, which allowed them to further explore shapes using simple commands. In groups of two, the girls and boys competitively took to the tasks! And with more challenging tasks given to them, they made conjectures and engaged in discussions that helped them resolve some misconceptions about shapes.
These trials provided the Maths team with extremely valuable insights: about which parts of an activity work and which don’t; about the flow of the activities, and how to facilitate them more effectively. The students’ enthusiasm and energy made it a fun and interesting experience for the team conducting these trials.
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