Ready for the Olympic year?
Here’s a local story from Buckinghamshire which suggests that combining maths with physical activity and competitive sport can help to enage and excite chidlren.
Yes, we’ve been here before; and ‘Yes’, coming so soon after Alexs Bollos’ arguments that maths should be enriching for it’s own sake, this does feel a little awkward. It reminds me of those TV producers who can’t put any decent programme together without feeling they have to spice it up with D-list ‘celebrities’ because they feel that “it” (selling homes, travelling across America, cooking, decorating, gardening, astronomy… whatever) just wouldn’t be interesting bereft of those luminaries to keep the audience entertained.
Still, that’s not to say we cannot find something of value in ‘Mathletics’ or ‘Numberfit’, as they call it. The Bucks Free Press informs me that Numberfit avoids traditional classroom techniques, and that “the innovative education method claims to improve concentration, memory and enjoyment of learning because of the adrenaline released when exercising.”
Yes, I can see some benefit here, and as one Head teacher points out, “… they really enjoy competing against each other and participating in all of the different activities.”
Then I learn that the programme is firmly based on the belief that it is somehow purposeful to use all of the “teaching styles to suit the various ways children learn, from visual, auditory and kinesthetic.”
Of course, I have a worry or two: is it, as I suspect, a lot of chanting and repetitive counting? How come jumping up and down and running around is justified by sticking the ‘VAK’ label on it? Where is the continuity and progression within this ‘programme’? How are aspects of the activities matched to the actual needs of the children (their mathematical needs)?
Do I sound cynical? Sorry, I started out wanting to say something much more positive… but failed.
Please share any thoughts or experiences you may have.
Read the full article at the Bucks Free Press
[Photo credit - bucksfreepress.co.uk]
