Do you suffer from arithmophobia? Probably not, because it involves an illogical fear of numbers and I've never noticed anyone scream in terror while walking past a speed limit sign.
Do you suffer from arithmophobia? Probably not, because it involves an illogical fear of numbers and I've never noticed anyone scream in terror while walking past a speed limit sign.
Mathematics anxiety, on the other hand, is far more prevalent and many of us often shy away from having to deal with digits and turn to calculators for the simplest of sums. But this doesn't have to be our fate and maths can be fun according to organisers of a Maths Open Day held at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre on Friday.
“Mathematics and languages are the most important subjects at school, yet we're sitting with the dilemma that learners don't even know the basics like multiplication and problem solving,” said education specialist Gilbert Prince on Friday.
Prince is a senior mathematics education specialist, in the intermediate to senior phase, from the Eastern Cape education department. “We want to bring the fun back into the maths classroom, so today we'll be showing you some great games that will help with your teaching,” he said.
In a partnership between the provincial education department and Rhodes University's Mathematics Education Project, maths teachers from Grades 4-7 from all Grahamstown schools were invited to take part in the workshop.
The open day slotted into the education department's programme for National Science Week. Now that the new CAPS curriculum is settling into South African schools, Prince said “maths has now become one of the priorities of the coursework and also has the inclusion of a new section”.
This new 'mental maths' section focuses on being able to work out sums in one's head and is a skill that definitely requires practice. Friday's workshop was ideal for teachers looking to improve and find more ways to teach such skills, and it had the added benefit of being, above all, fun.
While Prince explained the afternoon's proceedings, in the corner of the sports hall two little children were completely immersed in one of the demonstration games laid out on the table.
“Our mom is here, she's that teacher over there,” said little Kemi Futshane in his George Dickerson Primary uniform. “We had to come with and now my sister and I are playing this game.” “It's so much fun!” piped up his little sister Kera.
“You must roll the dice and get doubles and count how many to move forward, but I'm losing,” she said. So it seems the game called 'Hyena Chase' has received the popular vote already!
Teachers rotated around the various work stations where they tried their hand at all manners of maths games involving learning about fractions, decimals, shapes and many other maths staples. “This is a tricky game, but it makes for a great challenge,” commented Archie Mbolekwa maths teacher Xolela Nkayi.
“The best games are the ones that challenge you and push you to solve them.” The game Nkayi and a fellow teacher were experimenting with involved making numerous shapes out of three cut-out shapes.
Publishers Maskew Miller Longman, Oxford University Press and Vivalia were also present to showcase and distribute promotional copies of their new collection of CAPS text books. At the same time as and in conjunction with the open day on Friday, Kleuterland pre primary school hosted a life skills workshop for Grade 1-3 teachers.
