Fun with Math at an International School

Engaging Students in Fun ways to do Math isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially for the Higher grades. The use of Math becomes more and more for serious purposes as we go from lower grades to higher. But then, being counted among the best international schools in Mumbai comes with its own set of challenges.

Students have multiple perspectives when they are in a math class, some of them find it easy and fun, and some of them are terrified and find it stressful. The goal at the ABWA which is the best international school in Mumbai is to create a positive and safe learning environment for our students so each one of them feels comfortable and learns without any stress. To ease students in their new math classes at the beginning of the year, teachers plan a scavenger hunt where students are provided with the first clue based on a mathematical concept, and they have to solve that clue to find directions to the second clue. This helps in creating a positive experience for students which increases their intrinsic motivation to learn math.

Approaches to teaching and learning in IB

In this globalized world, students are exposed to 21 st -century skills like technology and connection with the real world which makes math fun and engaging for our students and makes Abwa the best international school in Mumbai. Students are exposed to softwares like Geogebra and Desmos from the beginning to help them visualize the mathematical concepts in the form of graphs and then students are asked to model any shape they see around with the help of those graphs. Some of the examples include modeling basketball throw or horse jump through quadratic equations, high tides or low tides through sinusoidal waves, etc. This makes learning and education for students sustainable which is necessary for students in the21 st century.

In higher grades, students need something more stimulating for their intellectual minds to be called “Fun Activity”. What worked well for my class was to make two teams and organize a “Math competition” where a member of each team is called to the board and asked to solve a Math problem in their way. The team member who gets it correct first and uses a novel method for solving wins points for their team. This invokes their competitive nature and gives them an adrenaline rush, and they look forward to the next such “competition”. Also, involving every student in the process gives each student a sense of self-confidence as they too have contributed to their team’s success with their knowledge of Math. I have also seen the brighter students counsel and teach math to the not-so-gifted ones to make the team stronger.

The best international school should not only focus on the content but focus ondeveloping skills while developing a love for the subject. Abwa provides students with opportunities to develop critical thinking skills, collaboration skills, and communication skills through debates, activity centers, visible thinking strategies, and tarsia puzzles. The learning in abwa is not restricted to the classroom, and students participate in mathematical competitions around the world. Students meet like-minded peers and are united by the love for math from around the world and learn to communicate and collaborate with them and form lifelong relationships. Students participate in ice breaker rounds which consists of fun activities based on NIM game which is played against a single opponent. Students are taken to a park or local manufacturing unit where students are asked to use math to model any they see around them which they have to present in front of other schools.

No matter what students are learning, a fun and positive environment is a foundation for academic and personal success. Teachers at abwa are not afraid to mix it up and try several different techniques to make math fun in their classroom. They see which ones students respond to best, then use them to keep their students loving math class. This is what truly makes Abwa the best international school in Mumbai.