Mathematics Teaching and Training in Schools
Recently, two workshops were organized jointly by The Community Mathematics
Center, Rishi Valley School and The Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore:
1. Mathematics Training Workshop for students of 8th and 9th classes.
2. Mathematics Teaching Workshop for teachers of 11th and 12th classes.
Workshop #1 on 8 – 10 August, 2008 was for students near IISc, and workshop #2
on 19 – 21 September, 2008 was for teachers from schools and colleges in
Bangalore city.
The aim of workshop #1 was to arouse curiosity among young learners, to create
love of mathematics and to show how to approach mathematical problems. It was
a very successful program in which 70 students participated. Though only a small
number of students were active in the class discussions, a large number of students
learned how to study mathematics and how to solve problems.
There were 30 teachers in workshop #2, and there was an excellent interaction with
them. The most important outcome of this workshop was that many teachers are
ready to take part in workshops 1 and 2 as faculty. They even suggested that they
would like to approach their schools to organize such workshops. This is a very
positive outcome, since there is a general feeling that teachers (even of 11th and 12th
classes) concentrate only on routine teaching, which is basically examination
oriented, and are rather indifferent to a movement of good mathematics education.
This feeling is so for teachers of many schools, but not naturally of all schools.
The above two workshops are just two of a number of workshops which The
Community Mathematics Center, Rishi Valley School has planned to organize all
over India followed by an important programme:
3. Regular problem solving classes for nurturing mathematics talent.
This is a programme of nurturing mathematics talent through regular weekly
classes of some selected students for 7 th and 8th standard students. For this we need
to select a center (a school or an institute of higher learning), where an identified
teacher preferably from a school will interact with a selected group of students
from nearby schools. This interaction on problem solving / teaching of specially
selected material will take place once in a week for about two hours and will give
the students appropriate material and aim at instilling confidence and the habit of
self learning among the students. A teacher participating in such a program has to
be financially rewarded.
Facilities required
The three programmes – Mathematics training and Teaching workshops (#1for 3
days and #2 for 2 and ½ days) and problem solving classes (#3) – would require:
(i) A coordinator from a college / institution of higher learning to oversee
the all three activities in a city / town.
(ii) Faculty to give 10 lectures for workshop #1 and 12 lectures in the
workshop #2. One of the lectures in both workshops should be on the
history of mathematics or the life (and if possible work) of important
mathematician.
(iii) Infrastructure of a well equipped lecture room for workshops, with green
board and projector.
(iv) A web page where the material for workshops is available. The
Community Mathematics Center, Rishi Valley School is already in the
process of setting up this with many useful features.
(v) A teacher from a school or a college identified for problem solving
classes #3.
(vi) It would be a great help if organizations like Association of Mathematics
Teachers of India will help the coordinators in (i) in selecting teachers
and students for the workshops.
(vii) Secretarial help.
(viii) The most important part of this activity would require money.
Difficulties and suggestions for implementation
There is a good news. Dr. S. A. Shirali has completed a new book “Mathematics 12
– 14” in more than 1325 pages. Such a valuable material needs be experimented
with students in the problem solving classes (#3). One of the major problems in a
nurturing program in mathematics and in training of teachers at this level is non-
availability of suitable material, and this problem is solved, as the whole material
will be available in just one book divided into 6 parts. There is an attempt to
publish the book quickly so that the problem solving classes (#3) can be based on
this book. The material for lectures in the workshops will also be available on the
webpage of the Rishi Valley School that of the Department of Mathematics of IISc.
The second major difficulty in the programme is the availability of faculty for the
workshops (#1 and #2) and teachers for problem solving classes (#3). In the
present day socio-economic condition in India, very few dedicated teachers are
available and this problem is compounded by the fact that many good teachers may
be involved in private tuitions. However, the Mathematics Teaching Workshop (#2)
has shown that given appropriate encouragement and opportunity, many teachers
are interested to work as faculty in the two workshops and also ready to teach in
the problem solving classes (#3). Therefore, we must treat the Mathematics
Teaching Workshop (#2) as manpower production of faculty for both
workshops and we must work toward this.
We may convert the workshop #2 for teachers of 8 th, 9th and 10th standard – this
would help in manpower production directly for the problem solving classes (#3).
Taking part in the workshops as faculty will instill among the teachers a pride in
their profession and make them far more competent.
Impact of quality mathematics education on other sciences: A quality
mathematics education is important for the growth of all sciences and this need not
be elaborated and emphasized. It is requested that scientists in all other subjects
support the above three programmes. While wholesome education in all sciences is
of great value, we need to remember that students who miss good mathematical
training up to 8th or 9th standards are not likely to learn good mathematics later on,
and this has a very bad effect on most of the sciences and engineering education.
Financial requirement
Being a local program, no long distance travel and overnight stay arrangements are
involved. This is essential to keep the management of the program simple.
Workshop #1 for 60 selected students from schools near the venue of the
workshop: We need to provide tea and biscuits to the participants of the workshop
twice daily – the students, being from nearby schools, may bring their lunch from
home. Lecture honorarium to the faculty @ Rs. 500 per lecture would cost Rs.
5000. We also need some secretarial assistance. Our experience at IISc shows that
the total cost will be Rs. 30000 for one workshop.
Workshop #2 for 50 selected teachers from the city in which the workshop is
organized: We need to provide tea and biscuits twice daily and working lunch to
the participants of the workshop. It is recommended that we also give Rs 100 daily
to each participant for commuting in the city. Lecture honorarium to the faculty @
Rs. 500 per lecture would cost Rs. 6000. Our experience at IISc shows that all this
would cost Rs. 40000 for one workshop.
Regular problem solving classes (#3) for nurturing mathematics talent: The
teachers taking part in this programme needs to be appropriately rewarded by a
special allowance, which may be between Rs. 2000 to Rs. 4000 per month. The
program may run for 6 to 8 months in a year for one group of students. We may
even think of charging students a monthly fee of Rs. 100/- to meet the cost of
honorarium of the teacher.
Implementation
It is almost impossible to implement such a program all over India unless CBSE or
NCERT or DST (as a part of its KVPY activity) or NBHM (as a part of its RMO
activity) takes it up as a national programme. However, we may begin with starting
this program on experimental basis in few cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai,
Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
