For some, memories of secondary school mathematics involve many stressful hours. A group of academics at The UWI St Augustine are working to change students’ sometimes fearful view of math and transform the way they learn the subject. Their solution is The UWI Math Fair.
For the fifth year, the Math Fair, organised by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics (DMS) in the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST, has proven to be an eye-opening look at the tangible world of math.
This year’s event was the largest ever, attracting over 2,200 students and over 150 teachers. Representing 63 schools from Trinidad and Tobago, they came to the St Augustine campus to participate in the math-themed activities.
The idea for the event came from an alumnus who recognised the potential to transform the way students learn mathematics in local schools. A former member of the department, Linda Deonath, championed the idea which was embraced by the department’s administration and encouraged by DMS head Dr Vrijesh Tripathi and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology Dr Brian Cockburn.
Dr Akhenaton Daaga, one of the event coordinators, explains that the Math Fair was created to convince students that “there's no impediment to someone choosing the field or feeling that they could become proficient”.
He lamented the number of students who feel math is not for them. “That psychological block is a lot,” he says, adding that they hope to encourage those who enjoy mathematics to explore further.
“Our main goal and objective of the fair is to spark enthusiasm for various applications of mathematics in real life,” observes Shastri Singh Doodnath, another member of the event team. “We really want to show them that mathematics is not only just in the classroom, just writing down these X's and these Y's.”
Hundreds of students participated in the online competitions like the Math Olympics and Math Modelling categories. The Math Creativity competition was particularly well-received with over 300 submissions.
“[The competition] is basically just allowing students to get those creative juices flowing and to really start to bridge gaps between mathematics and fun activities like art and music,” explains Mr Singh Doodnath.
Administrative assistant and secretary, Kaira Paul, spoke about how the students embraced the art element of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math).
“We had extempos. We had art pieces. We had memes. We had people doing modelling of the World Cup trophies, people designing their dream house, and then explaining how geometry and mathematics would help them in making good decisions while keeping the aesthetic of things.”
Even teachers enthusiastically participated in a special category.
At the physical event, patrons eagerly visited various booths featuring games and presentations. They also listened to talks about mathematics careers.
The organisers are delighted with the enthusiastic feedback from students, teachers, and parents.
“The response has been so overwhelming that we have to look at increasing the activities,” Paul declares. They are also considering adding to the event space on campus, and perhaps inviting primary school pupils to attend as well.
All this, they hope, will change the view of mathematics in classrooms across the country.
“As the world becomes more and more technologised, there's so much more of a need for proficiency with mathematics at some kind of level,” says Dr Daaga.
The team expressed their appreciation to their many sponsors and supporters and to the Ministry of Education who supported the promotion of the event among the schools.
Visit www.uwimathfair.com or email STA-UWIMathFair@sta.uwi.edu for more information.
