The Second Phase of the Mathematics Movement, a report.

Last year, a series of workshop was organized at S.D. Public School , to celebrate 2012 as the National Year of Mathematics. It was named the Mathematics Movement. Inaugurated by Mr. Vineet Joshi, Chairman, CBSE, it was divided into 3 phases. In Phase 1, teachers and students from 32 schools all over Delhi and NCR were invited to attend the workshop. The main objective was to inculcate a desire for learning math in young learners and also to bring about a radical change in their attitude towards the subject. This was done by identifying the usage of mathematics in craft- work and by acquainting children with the legacy of Vedic Maths. There were other creative learning strategies like using ICT to learn math concepts and problem-solving techniques.

This year, in the second phase, 48 schools participated. Once again approximately 90 teachers and 384 students met with the mission that reiterated, We will not fear maths and bring back the lost glory of India in the subject inspired by our legacy of great mathematicians Aryabhatta, Bhaskara and Ramanujan." Shlok Tyagi(Class X), Tanya Gupta(Class IX), Anshaj Gupta(Class VIII), Nitya Soni(Class VII), Vamini Gupta and Madhavi Bahuguna(Class VI), Paramraj Chadha and Karan Gupta(Class V) along with teachers Sandhya Batheja, Alka Kanwar and Mini Bhadran attended the three- day workshop from 3 to 5 October, 2013. [gallery columns="2"] This year the occasion was organized at the same venue, under the aegis of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Prof. Dinesh Singh, VC Delhi University took a keen interest in the programme and had sent his team of teachers from Cluster Innovation Centre, DU to inform teachers about this new division of DU and it's functions. It has been specially designed to improve the standard of mathematics teachers and it also offers degree courses dedicated to the teaching of Mathematics at school and college levels. The Centre is also planning to organize nationwide workshops catering to the need of improving problem solving-abilities of teachers and students. The main focus of the event was to enhance student- skill in the following areas of mathematics: a. Qualitative and quantitative reasoning b. Developing Problem solving skills c. Framing understanding based questions d. Applications of mathematics in daily life e. Handling misconceptions and errors For achieving this, the students were exposed to PISA problems and methods to tackle them. They were also taken to the Physics lab to show the connection between concepts of science and maths. The children were also told about Ramaujan, his magic square and taxi cab numbers. Students also learnt the techniques of Counting without actual counting i.e. by studying patterns and relationships between numbers. They also practiced solving logical reasoning questions, puzzles and the Rubiks Cube. The teachers had sessions on a. Mind Mapping by Rashmi Kathuria, b. Understanding Infinity by Prof.V.P.Srivastava, c. Mathematics of Planet Earth by Dr. Gopi Chandran, d. Teaching of Algebra by Dr. R.K. Sharma, e. Mathematical modeling by Dr. Shobha Bagai, f. Inter- disciplinary problems by Dr. Pankaj Tyagi and g. Developing Math reasoning by Dr. Anoop Rajput Many new things were learnt and many new revelations were made by both the students and teachers. The workshop was an eye- opener and also a sensitiser, as it were, as it helped the understanding of the pressing need for upliftment of standards of teaching and learning of mathematics. At all levels in our country. By Ms. Sandhya Batheja.