Resources for mathematics
What are these resources
Students have been out of school for now almost 18 months and many studies have shown that children have suffered learning losses at various levels. The access to various forms of digital interventions have been at best unequal and a recent survey by UNICEF shows that a majority of students have not met a teacher in a 30-day period. The loss of mathematics (foundational skills) will pose a huge challenge to students, with the high load of mathematics syllabus as it is.
A recent study by APU shows that 82% of students from the classes 2-6 have lost atleast one mathematics skill from the prior school year. The learning loss in mathematics could be due to a variety of reasons including:
lack of opportunities to practice the skill as well as acquire new skills
lack of conceptual understanding and sufficient mastery of the skill in the first place
loss of language skills
emotional and psychological stresses in the child's life due to the pandemic
While there is a push for schools to reopen and there is talk of accelerated learning, it cannot be emphasized enough that lack of sufficient time to rebuild skills will be sure to adversely impact students' attainments in mathematics. It is not meaningful to think of a bridge course and try to deliver all the lessons of an entire academic year and expect students to catch up on the grade-level mathematics. It is necessary to develop resources a sequence of lessons for the core areas of school mathematics - focusing on Classes 1-6. Fluency in these areas, it is expected, will help children meet the requirements of the mathematics syllabus from Class 7 onwards.
Suggested sequence of lessons Playing with numbers
Number sense
Number quantity association
Familiarity with numbers
Comparison and estimating
Counting , grouping and place value
Operations on numbers
Addition and subtraction
Addition and subtraction with number lines
Multiplication and division (with manipulatives as necessary)
- 1 and #2 will need to be iteratively done for students to get comfortable with larger numbers
Game for reinforcing operations
Worksheets for self-learning
Fractions
Using manipulatives for introducing fractions
Worksheets for practice (addition, equivalent fractions)
Equal measure model of fractions
Multiplication and division of fractions
Geometry
