This is a reprint of an experimental edition of Games and Activities for Class II. Teachers' Guide prepared for the School Mathematics Project (SMP) in 2001 with the help of teachers from participating schools. It explains and gives ideas on both how to use the worksheets in the accompanying book, Games and Activities for Class II Worksheets, and also gives ideas for additional activities. As part of the same project, another book was written for Class L. But the games, activities and worksheets in both these books can be used for any age, depending on the needs of the students.
About SMP
The School Mathematics Project (SMP) was aimed at addressing the fear of mathematics in children. It was based at the Centre for Science Education and Communication, University of Delhi. From 1995, it ran as a teaching programme in 5 schools in Delhi In 2000, the first batch of children completed Class V. The project laid emphasis on activities with concrete objects in the early stages. Algorithms were introduced later. Wherever possible, multiple ways of performing the same mathematical task were introduced. Children were encouraged to work in groups, and to talk about how they solved the problems in mathematics in the classroom. The following points encapsulate the "SMP Approach
On Children.
Children are not blank slates when they enter school. They come equipped with a certain awareness of number and operations ('initial mathematics") that is independent of formal instruction. Disregard of this leads to the growth of fear of mathematics.
The classroom process should not be viewed as a one-way transfer of 'knowledge" from the teacher to the taught. The emphasis should be on elucidation rather than on instruction.
Children are individuals with their own pace and often their own strategies of learning. The curriculum should provide room for them to remain different from each other. One method, one activity, one technique can not provide for all children. There is a natural pace at which each child picks up new concepts and skills in mathematics. Riding roughshod over them in an attempt to maintain a pace of learning dictated solely by an externally imposed pre-determined curriculum is a major factor in the development of fear of mathematics.
On Mathematics.
Mathematics is more than numbers, operations and algorithms. It encompasses shape and space, patterns, structures, data handling and measurement.
Mathematics is inherently beautiful and a potential source of joy but only if the teacher feels this herself can she communicate it to children.
Aptitude comes naturally when there is a meaningful context for mathematics.
On Teachers and Teaching.
If the teacher is not convinced of the need for change, no curricular change will work. Teacher training is not just a matter of training teachers in new concepts and techniques, but of changing their attitude to mathematics and to teaching, especially in their relationship with children. This can not be done by imposition and may be possible only through involvement and association.
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