Mumbai-based teacher demystifies math using kitchen tools

Bhuvaneshwari Raman with 8yearold Rohan Udani PicSameeracircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088MarkandeOn a Thursday evening when we drop by at KA EduAssociates a Lower Parelbased educational management services company we find Bhuvaneshwari Raman a math and science specialist busy arranging cutlery on the table She then fills the bowl with colourful friams and cylindrical pastas while placing the cheese slices on another plate Closely observing her is a shy Rohan Udani an eightyearold from Forts Cathedral and John Connon SchoolRamanrsquos class on Venn diagramsRohan I want you to pick out all the cylindrical coloured pastas from the bowl she instructs adding Now pick all the yellow pastas Raman then draws two circles within an enclosing rectangle In one well put pastas that are cylindrical and in the other well put the yellow ones But why is there something in between the two circles she throws a question at Udani Without a moments pause he replies because they are both cylindrical and yellow Absolutely right So the region in both circles where the two sets overlap is called the intersection of A and B That was a session of Venn diagramWelcome to a class of Math In The Kitchen where Raman demystifies a childs edgy relationship with numbers and shapes by using the kitchen as a laboratory From tiny teaspoons to massive measuring cups the kitchen is full of tools that can help take abstract mathematical concepts from the chalkboard to the dinner table When it comes to measurement estimation proportions or even simple addition subtraction division or multiplication cooking is a handson way to understand the subject The kitchen will help you develop an appreciation for math as both fun and useful she saysRaman will launch the first session of Math in the Kitchen on January 28 The number of participants per class will be restricted to 30 Children learn best when theres no fear in an ambience where they feel its okay to ask questions and make mistakes You might have made a mistake with one cheese slice but its alright to ask for another says Raman vicepresident of KA EduAssociates established by awardwinning educators Fatima Agarkar and Gitika Kishanchandani The training is usually offered to mothers and teachers who can teach the children in turnUsing sphagetti she teaches integer concepts and number lines cheese slices are used for fractions and geometry while bread is reserved for the Pythagorean theorem It starts from premath concepts like sorting and patterns and goes on to trigonometry statistics probability and algebra upto the Class X levelChildren learn tables by rote but they dont understand it So sometimes when I give a word problem they ask me is this division addition multiplication or subtraction she says Its the translation of the word problem into what operation is required to resolve it that Raman teaches She uses something called the CPA approach Concrete Pictorial Abstract to develop a deep and sustainable understanding of maths Developed by American psychologist Jerome Bruner this method instead of the traditional method of teaching math brings concepts to life by allowing children to experience and handle physical objects themselvesRaman feels the reason for the fear of mathematics which many like this writer harboured in their school days is because we as students were never encouraged to ask questions Another challenge she says is algebra Till the 5th standard you were taught numbers Suddenly in the sixth grade alphabets come into the picture and the child is thrown off gear she says The key here is application of concepts in everyday life points out the teacher Its all about logic Rohan is in grade 2 but now he understands Venn diagrams which is taught in Class VI How you approach a problem is key she smiles