Mathland and Scienceland
Seymour Papert was a great educationist, computer scientist and mathematician. He was also the force behind Logo computer programming language. In fact Logo was the first computer programming language, which I had learned in my life. When I was in grade 3 our school introduced computers in education. Logo was a language which was supposed to help us learn computer programming and maths both at the same time. I still remember writing code in Logo. Although at that time I was not good in coding.
Around 29 years later I read Seymour’s famous book — Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. In the book he talks about how easy it is for kids to learn the mother tongue in the native country. He talk about learning Maths in an imaginary Mathsland, where kids can learn maths without any fear or learning issues. According to him, Logo computer language was a tool to help kids to learn maths.
Maths should not be an abstract subject as it is made out to be. Maths is the language of nature. Physics cannot be understood without maths. All mathematical concepts taught in school can be made easier if their use is also taught alongside. I still remember a friend of mine telling me that all that was being taught in maths class was something which his parents never used in their daily life. My reply to him was that I wanted to make computer games and I knew that cartesian geometry being taught in the class is essential for making computer games.
There are a lot of ways in which we can get students to venture into the imaginary Mathsland. Scratch, a software created by MIT, is a good way for younger kids to be taught maths and creativity. Kids as young as 6 years of age can learn basics of cartesian geometry using Scratch.
Similar to Mathsland we can have Scienceland. Maker activities involving electronics are very good for teaching maths and science to kids. A simple robotic car can teach many concepts to kids. I have used robotic car projects to teach concepts like sound and sonar to kids. Sound based distance sensors which are used in robotic car projects to help in navigation are based on the concept of the sonar.
Opening one of the first makerspaces in New Delhi, India has made me more clear regarding all the science and maths I had learnt in school. I was a good student generally. I was especially good as a student till class 8th. Still did not remember the speed of sound and was not very clear regarding a few concepts like electromagnetism.
For my makerspace, my team created a few projects involving solar cells, dynamo, sound based distance sensors and infrared sensors etc. Every project helped kids and myself to become more clear in maths and science. Unfortunately most parents in India do not appreciate this. They still want to send kids to private tuitions for learning maths and science instead of a makerspace.
I have founded an open education project called Fun2Do Labs. To know more about it visit : http://fun2dolabs.org . Subscribe to me on Medium to read my posts on education and technology.
