08/31/2009 (Monday) We had our last two mathematics classes today and the topic was geometric transformations, specifically translations. The first class was pushed forward by an hour and thus caught us and the mathematics teacher off-guarded. The teacher was extremely competent at handling the class despite the surprise and was able to teach the class about translations in the spirit of active learning. Adriana, who was observing the class, and we are thus very encouraged and optimistic that the teacher would be able to sustain active learning. Of course, active learning only works if students are willing to learn and cooperate with the teacher and based on the feedback we have got from them, we are also confident that they are receptive to an active style of learning. Unfortunately, Nics had to leave the team early and the team would definitely miss him. I personally would like to thank him for his awesome ideas and teaching and it is my honor to be able to work with him for the past week to teach some cool mathematics stuff to the kids.
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08/28/2009 (Friday) The topic for today’s mathematics classes was percentages. We had two mathematics classes today but unfortunately, the mathematics teacher was not around to teach as she was away for a meeting. For both classes, we began with some fun mathematics tricks which the students requested for. After that, we did a review of percentages before we conducted a game that required them to calculate discounts for items that our volunteers “sold.” We allowed the students to keep the items they “bought” as we thought doing so would keep them enthusiastic. For the second class, we had some time left so the students were able to present their tessellations art works which will be displayed somewhere in school, probably in the library. Overall, we thought both classes went well and we are encouraged by the feedback.
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08/27/2009 (Thursday) Today’s class was also about tessellations, but we taught a different class of students. After working on the feedback we got from teaching tessellations on Tuesday, we finally went into action this morning with a revamped style of teaching that incorporates more interaction between us, the students and the mathematics teacher, the mathematics teacher’s valuable inputs from the previous day, and a dance to engage the students both physically and mentally. Based on the questionnaire that was done at the end of the class, the students enjoyed the class a lot and were excited with being able to create their own tessellations. It was also in line with our goal of sustainability that the mathematics teacher played a very significant role in teaching the class in an active manner too. Of course, thanks to Diane, Adriana, and Art for volunteering to help us out with the class! Also, thanks to Park, Pak Hin, Pup, Beer, Mei Yueh, and Adriana for facilitating the classes!
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08/26/2009 (Wednesday) We did not have mathematics classes today, thus we rendered our services at other components in the morning and afternoon. Of course, being hardworking people (as always!), we delved into the details of tomorrow’s lesson plan and then discussed the plan with the mathematics teacher in the evening. The meeting went well and we are really encouraged by the teacher’s open-mindedness and willingness to teach the class in a more active manner. We are definitely looking forward to tomorrow!
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08/25/2009 (Tuesday) 8:30 a.m. in the morning, a time that can be disconcertingly early for many undergraduates (like us in the team!); it however marked the first time we stepped into the classroom to teach mathematics. We were also fortunate to have Beer, Paul, Jasmine, Diane, and Adriana to help us out with the lesson. As mentioned in the previous post, today’s class was about tessellations and it seems that based on the feedback we had, students enjoyed the class and had fun with creating their own tessellations. In the spirit of active learning, we also got the students to finish their art works by Friday so that we can display them in the library for everyone to appreciate. Last but not least, there were many suggestions from our team members who volunteered to help us with the class and also from the students themselves. We are certainly very encouraged by the start we made, but we are already working improving subsequent classes to further increase students’ interest in and appreciation of mathematics. We are confident that we are able to achieve our goal of introducing the concept of active learning in both the students and the teachers.
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08/24/2009 (Monday) Hello everyone! Nics and I (Edwin) are really excited to be looking after the 8th grade mathematics classes in the Tessabaan 5 School. Nics is from Thailand and is a rising sophomore majoring in mathematics at Brown University while I am a rising junior/senior studying Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. Let’s get to the real stuff now! After much effort and preparation to come up with fun and educational mathematics lessons, we finally got the opportunity to meet the mathematics teacher in person. Her name is Sirinthip Thisana. She was very eager to share with us what she already taught her students, thus giving us a clear picture of the students’ mathematical abilities. Moreover, she also has planned several future activities for the rest of the semester and it happens that some of her ideas are similar to what we have conceived; as a result, collaboration between us became more tractable. Excited by the prospects that we will be teaching the class really soon, we got down to work right after dinner and prepared materials for the next day. In essence, we went through in detail what we will be doing and saying in class the next day with valuable inputs from several team members. We have decided that the topic for tomorrow’s class is tessellations. Our intention is to start with a fun and relevant topic that is not yet taught so as to foster the students’ interest in mathematics. To demonstrate that everyone can make tessellations easily, we will cut a tetrahedron to create a flat surface and then show that this new shape created tessellates no matter how one cuts the tetrahedron. We are really excited to teach the class and also equally curious to see how receptive the students are to getting some hands-on experience.
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