Jayasree SubramanianSchool of Education,

Tata Institute of Social SciencesHyderabad, India

For the Indian National Presentation atInternational Congress on Mathematical

Education,Seoul, Korea, July 2012

Primary School Mathematics: Pedagogies and Challenges

A Shift In Pedagogy

Changes in the curricula have lead to a change also in the pedagogic approach.

Traditionally the approach to teaching and learning mathematics has been teacher centred, instruction based and behaviourist- learning and mastering a method/algorithm and then applying them in 'word problems'

In the new approach the role of the teacher is that of a facilitator, who creates meaningful contexts, poses appropriate questions, introduces games and puzzles to help children evolve strategies for problem solving.

Material constraint Integral to the new approach is the use of

activities at the primary level and even later. However, at the level of classroom transaction

there is a wide variety in how these ideas gets translated.

One of the major hurdles is access to teaching learning materials (TLM) in sufficient numbers so that, a small group of children together can carry out activities.

In the absence of commercially available TLMs, the burden of making and using TLMs is left to the teachers

Creative Classrooms- A Refreshing Minority

Some highly motivated teachers and a small minority of schools, principally among those run or supported by NGOs employ very creative ideas to make low cost TLMs from locally available and waste material.

Beads-strings made of mud, stones, leaves, matchsticks,matchboxes, bottle caps, twigs,and seeds function as effective TLMs for them.

With the teacher as a facilitator, children work in small groups, converse among themselves to build their understanding

A variety of TLMs in classrooms

Making & using a fraction scale

Activities With Paper and Pencil!

Paucity of TLMs in schools But these are more an exception than the norm.

These isolated efforts provide at best, an empirical basis for change in approaches to curriculum and pedagogy.

For the large majority of schools constructivist approaches to learning remains more an idea than a practice.

In the absence of state intervention to ensure that TLMs are made available to all schools, by and large students' economic background plays a role in access to TLMs and activity based pedagogy

TLMs & Economic Background

At the top end some (but not all) private schools catering to the economically better off children ensure that a group of children can share a set of TLMs.

They also provide training to their teachers in constructivist approaches to teaching and learning.

However at the bottom, government run schools in general and private schools catering to the lower economic background rarely use TLMs in their classrooms.

The haves and the have nots

Pedagogy in Practice- Old Ways Rule!

Irrespective of their economic status, a large majority of schools catering to the middle class and upper middle class children still follow the old approach: classroom transactions are textbook and teacher centric. Drill and practice remain a dominant pedagogic approach with varying degrees of success. There are no studies to show what percentage of children come out of primary school ready to meet the challenge at the upper primary level.

The undisciplinables!

As is the case elsewhere too, behaviourist approaches fail completely in schools catering to the socio-economically marginalised first generation learners.

On the contrary, there is enough evidence to believe that when they are given problems meaningful to them, these children evolve their own strategies for solving problems.

Their skills in mathematics remain oral and limited to what they learn in everyday transactions outside the school.

Margined out of upper primary curriculum

A significant number of children from the socio economically deprived sections

1.Cannot read and write numbers

2.Cannot carry out the four basic operations on numbers

3.Cannot make sense of arithmetic expressions like 95 ÷ 5 =?

4.Cannot make sense of fractions

5.Cannot relate measurement in textbooks though they may have practical knowledge

Activity Based Learning: A magic wand!?

Some state boards have adopted 'Activity Based Learning' where all the children follow the same trajectory but at their own pace.

They have material at their disposal and carry out the tasks given to them.

Teachers' facilitate

Challenges and questions!

It remains to be seen how effective the ABL approach is in ensuring that children from the marginalised sections are prepared to cope with the upper primary curriculum.

But a major challenge to realising the new pedagogy lies in teacher preparation and this is a formidable task.

Curriculum and pedagogy alone cannot ensure 'mathematics for all' in a society fractured by several inequities!

How to meet the challenge of equity and quality remains a big question.