Most adults look back at school days with fondness and a feeling of being carefree. However, was school life only all that after all? The stress of appearing for exams, and being able to understand and do well in mathematics, would qualify as two most common fears in most students and even the adults who now look back at school with fondness. A research published in The Print in 2021 revealed that 82% of the students between grades 7th to 10th fear Math, the core reason cited is redundancy of teaching methods.
Despite numerous years of studying mathematics in school, students conventionally are not always encouraged to critically enquire why something exists the way it does. Math is also considered difficult because of the abstract nature of the concepts. What might “square roots” mean to a school student who is listening to this term for the first time.
However, what if we reimagined the teaching and understanding of mathematics and made it visual and interactive, what if teachers are empowered and trained to approach Math differently in the sense that students are able to see the concepts and not just imagine them in their minds in isolation.
Mathegramming Academy started as an experimental start-up in January 2023 for a team of youth who were coming for their learning to reimagine teaching and learning of Mathematics and build responsibility and rigor in children. The goal was to mentoring and mastery of Mathematics through projects in programming/electronics, and through leadership in action programs. Since its inception Mathegramming worked with individual children, partnered with 4 schools, curated and conducted workshops on electronics, Mathematics and programming for teachers and children. They reached over 200 teachers and 600 children directly.
The impact of Mathegramming’s work can be seen through the gradual increase in the number of partnerships, Mathegramming has partnered with Vaasavi international school, Auroville Schools, Government schools like Bommayapalayam Government School and Edayanchavadi government school, private schools like Vidhya Peetham I-school in Salem and Infant Jesus School, Kanyakumari.
Mathegramming has not only enriched and added value to the participants of the workshops or sessions undertaken by Mathegramming. Those who were a part of the Mathegramming team also demonstrated growth and learning through their engagement with Mathegramming Academy.
“Mathegramming Academy is very close to my heart.” Says Dharani who was one of the first members of the Mathegramming Academy. Being a part of Mathegramming Academy helped Dharani revisit the mathematical concepts and understand them visually. She also learnt programming on Scratch which is something she never knew before she became a part of Mathegramming Academy, she could share her learning with others by creating Scratch modules for the students. Similarly Soundhariya and Illakaya also mention that learning mathematics visually helped them understand the concepts they never did before. Ilakkaya, despite an Msc in Mathematics said “I never understood trigonometry even in college but here I understood the core, it all started with a triangle and a circle is something I never knew.” Apart from acquiring knowledge and skills directly related to STEM Education, the team shared about gaining soft skills such as communication skills, being able to collaborate with others, increased confidence through conducting workshops and sharing knowledge, analytical thinking, creative thinking, and the courage to create. The team members also grew self aware and learnt about their universal values through participating in Radical Transformational Leadership workshop and learned to self reflect on being in and out of integrity. Dharani also shared that understanding the difference between responsibility and accountability helps her in her personal life and that even when she is not a part of Mathegramming anymore she acknowledges whoever she feels inspired by after noticing them being in action.
The team attributes their learning in various areas to several learning opportunities that they took like participating in Radical Transformational Leadership (RTL) workshops, RTL Practitioner Coach training, Drama workshop, Integral Education Practitioner Gathering, using the videos uploaded by Sanjeev anna on mathematical concepts on Just In Time and meetings with him. The team found feedback sessions with Sanjeev anna most useful for their learning, “Constructive feedback helps me see the areas where I can grow and do things better.” is what Preethi shared.
One of the cultural shifts that the members of the Mathegramming team enabled is in the area of gender equality. Dharani shared that technical skills, math and science are considered subjects that only men can do but she herself learnt and acquired the skills and empowered women and girls to be able to do the same, she shared that sparking curiosity in young girls through the sessions in schools and various workshops, encouraged them to learn programming and math, and develop an interest for the same. Similar to the gendered belief held about STEM, sports are also considered appropriate for men, especially in adolescents girls are discouraged to play outdoor sports, all schools don’t give equal opportunities to girls and boys to indulge in sports. One of the initiatives to change this practice was undertaken by Manogar, through Ultimate Frisbee, ensured that both girls and boys get equal time and equal access to resources to play. Some other cultural shifts that Mathgramming achieved are in the area of access to resources, Soundhariya shared that children of government schools don’t have access to computer labs and computers, when Mathegramming team carried laptops and taught children to not only operate but also programmed in scratch and bridged the problem of access and empowered them. While creating access removes the barrier, helping children use the materials and resources responsibly and respecting them is also something that Mathegramming worked on, as pointed out by Dinesh. Illakaya and Preethi shared how they were able to change the way students learn, moving from passive learning to understanding the underlying concepts and learning through hands-on activities using materials and scratch.
As Mathgramming Academy is closing now, the team reflected on what they would have liked to do but couldn’t. Manogar shared that he would have liked to spend more time on programming than teaching children. Dharani and Soundhariya shared how both of them would have liked to partner with more schools and successfully reach above 1000 students as initially planned, Dinesh also shared that he would have liked to do a series of workshops on electronics instead of just one day workshop. Ilakkaya feels unsatisfied with the engagement of children with Scratch, as per her the children struggled with Scratch, she would have liked them to be able to use it with ease and feels unfulfilled about it. Preethi on the other hand feels grateful that she is given the opportunity to do many different things and doesn’t feel that she is unable to do something that she wants to do.
As the team members move on and undertake new roles some at STEM Land/C3STREAM Land Designs and beyond the team said that they would all continue to share their learning with youth and children.
The team shared that they are grateful for the opportunity of being able to work in the Mathegramming team. Through the opportunity they also got to learn about their leadership skills. Soundhariya shared that she realized that when she speaks powerfully she is able to deliver the sessions better, Dharani shared that she felt like a leader because of being able to source her inner values, Dinesh felt like a leader when he could confidently stand in front of others and deliver a session.
The idea Mathegramming i.e. codifying our work at STEM Land over the years is a legacy. So are curated workshops in electronics, Mathematics, and programming (that everyone at C3SLD was trained in). STEM Land continues to receive invitations from various schools from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and more recently Andhra Pradesh to conduct these programs and others in C3SLD are having an opportunity to contribute to these.
Lastly below is how the members rated their own learnings before and after being a part of Mathgramming Academy:
Dharani: She went from a 0 to 9 in RTL, Scratch and Geogebra.
Dinesh: His knowledge of electronics was at 1 when he joined Mathgramming, now he rates that his knowledge is at 5.
Soundhariya: Went from 1 to 6 in logical thinking, 2 to 5 in understanding Math concepts using materials and 3 to 6 in strategic thinking.
Ilakkaya: Illakaya was at 2 with her knowledge of Math and now she rates herself at a 7.
Preethi: She was at 1 when it came to teaching children creatively and making them understand the concepts, she is now at an 8.
