Three kids wanting to work on maths.
So the first question was ‘is it maths or logic?’
They were clear MATHS!
We read about logic and different ways to develop. They liked the idea of games to develop various mathematical skills.
Why?
“To use in daily life” they were clear.
Now next questionwas How? -Games and Textbooks. Games to practice and Textbooks be at par with conventional standards”.
They began to learn maths using games, but were lost on how and what to play. Few times they played the games which they knew or what others designed.
We started exploring. The first question was ‘what is a game’? As we dissected various games, we discovered few criteria of any game ‘Has randomness, unpredictable, has a skill, has speed, has challenges, win or lose or points’.
With these criteria, we started playing maths games using dices to work on multiplication. First, we played few games on multiplication using dice, then they invented new games and even included division and fractions.
Next was selecting textbooks. Each one selected criteria for self and chose a book to work on. None selected textbooks on multiplication. As they felt that they know the concept and need more practice. They selected textbooks to explore new topics…prime numbers, angels, and step by step method of division. They spend time with various books to select topics and levels they wanted to work. One of them connected with another adult at the campus to learn ‘conventional methods of division’.
A time slot is chosen each day by them to work on MATHS they wanted.
We are exploring maths through games using playing cards, dice, thread, and paper. We used playing cards and dice to explore basic mathematical operations. Thread and paper to explore geometry. We introduced one game using one material each and encouraged kids to design their own games, rather using the game. Initially, kids were ‘it okay we will play your game only’, later they enjoyed and adding more challenges in their own games. The idea was to expose them to maths using various resources and at the same time not making them depend on us for future games.