Form mathematics fun clubs — Prof. Anku
The President of Ghana Mathematics Society (GMS), Professor Sitsofe Anku, has called on school authorities to consider the establishment of Mathematics fun clubs in their various schools.
Advertisement
He said apart from making the learning of the subject fun and competitive, and also changing the wrong perception that mathematics was a difficult subject, such clubs would help students know that Mathematics is not a set of rules or guidelines but an art and part of everyday activities.
The teamwork developed through these clubs, he added, would enable weak students to be assisted by their colleagues and supervisors to enable them to understand the subject better.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic at a vacation camp organised by the society for 63 students drawn from upper primary, junior high and senior high schools in Ho to help them to learn mathematics the practical way, the mathematician stated that learning the subject in groups was the only effective way students could understand the subject.
According to him, teaching of the subject in schools was problematic because it was theoretical so some students were unable to grasp the concepts, so they failed in tests.
He also said the curriculum needed to be changed to make the subject more practical, adding, “If students just see formulae on the board without knowing where they are coming from, they get scared and it becomes difficult for them to understand them.
Prof. Anku indicated that mathematics is a subject that builds upon previously learnt concepts therefore it was essential for one to have the necessary prerequisite knowledge before one studied a new topic.
He said maths was the easiest subject, if students understood its theories. He added that though it was the duty of teachers to identify struggling students and employ intervention strategies to help them, some teachers, unfortunately, did not understand the concepts themselves and, therefore, were unable to teach their students.
“It is for this reason that I think teachers themselves need to be trained so that they teach our children the practical way of learning mathematics”.
He acknowledged that some training was ongoing across the country to boost the capacity of teachers and said that was the right thing to do.
