Media workshop organised by Vigyan Prasar,
Mail News Service
Imphal, May 3 : Mathematics teaching has been reduced to “does” and “don’t” without letting the students grasp a fuller understanding of the concepts, said Huidrom Jayantkumar Singh, former head of department of Mathematics, D.M. College of Science and President, Manipur Mathematical Society. Delivering his keynote address at a workshop/seminar on Mathematics and Science Communication for media persons organised here today, he bemoaned that the faulty approach to teaching mathematics by focussing on problem-solving was responsible for maths phobia suffered by students. This is one subject in which maximum number of students fail in the examinations. It is the most unpopular, rather most fear subject among students.
This media workshop was a part of the series being organized across the country by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Science & Technology and the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. It is part of the activities of the National Mathematics Year (2012-13) being observed to mark the great mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan’s 125th birth anniversary.
Jayantkumar Singh said mathematics teaching should pass through three stages. ‘Whats,’ that is, definitions, interrelation between principles, etc. ‘How” is the method of solving a problem or proving a proposition. “Why” is the interpretation and generalisations. Although the last stage does not provide solution to the problem, it is of basic importance because it tells us why a particular method of solving the problem had been adopted. But teachers generally concentrate on the ‘how’ part and give little importance to the ‘what’ and ‘why’.
This, he said, forces student cramp up and learn by rote -just like mugging up English spellings and pronunciation. Hence, young learners develop a distaste for mathematics. He said like taking scientific knowledge from textbooks and laboratories to the common people in the field, familiarisation with the principles of mathematics can be made lively by relating them to our day-to-day activities.
Giving his introductory remarks, Dr. Subodh Mahanti, senior scientists, Vigyan Prasar, said that the idea behind these workshop/seminars was to highlight the importance of mathematics in understanding the secrets of nature and solving practical problems, and to make people aware of India’s mathematical heritage. Mathematics is used as a universal language and tool for any quantitative research in all the sciences.
Fundamental mathematical questions also arise out of these research topics. And so we see the emergence of disciplines like mathematical biology, mathematical ecology, mathematical geography, mathematical physics, etc, Dr Mahanti pointed out.
The origins of mathematics, he said, can be traced to antiquity. Prehistoric human beings probably learned to count at least up to ten on their fingers. Ancient Indians, Chinese, Babylonians, and Egyptians devised methods of counting and measuring that were of practical importance in their everyday lives. With the passage of time surveyors, clock and calendar makers, masons and machine makers, and most importantly merchants, developed the methods of counting and measuring.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/mathematics-teaching-should-be-popularised/
