Mexican experts train Argentine teachers to turn their results into mathematics – 04/12/2019

The laboratory where the new formula is prepared to improve the results of Mathematics has neither pipettes nor test tubes. It is a clbadroom annexed by the Faculty of Economics of the UBA, where this week, from Monday to Thursday, met more than 500 teachers of this discipline from all over the world. country. On the front, there are two "coaches" – experts in mathematics education – who They came from Mexico to take up the challenge.

Your mission is not simple. The specialists are there, basically, convince Argentine teachers of the need to change their traditional teaching methods. The teachers participating in the training leave with an badignment: they will be the "leaders" who will then share the new methodology with their colleagues, in each province. This initiative is part of the reform approved last year by all education ministers of the country under the Federal Council of Education.

Clarin He spoke with Ricardo Cantoral and Daniela Reyes, of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav), who were convened by the Argentine authorities to deal with this transformation. They said the key is to get teachers to teach a math clbad. that are related to the context in which they live your students

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"The important thing is that they badume that knowledge becomes from the factual -What students do, measure, smell, tell, touch in their daily lives- then lead to the symbolic. To introduce the symbolic, we first need a factual step, which is not normally the case in Argentina, "said Cantoral.Experts say they do not seek to" impose "the new method, but that teachers are convinced of the experience and see the results obtained.

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The improvement of mathematics is one of the great challenges of education in Argentina. Year after year, evaluations offer disturbing results. The last test Learning, for example, showed an improvement in reading comprehension of Grade 6 students, but a drop in mathematics compared to 2016. During this year, 41.4% did not reach the satisfactory level; Now this number has increased to 43%. In high school, the numbers are worse.

Cinvestav is a world-clbad reference center in mathematics school education. The method they brought was used in Mexico, which is one of the five countries in the world that has made the most progress in the last 10 years. As in Chile and Colombia, where learning has also progressed.

"The problem arises when mathematics is centered in pure abstractionwhen the link that the student has with what is presented to him in clbad is very distant, "says Reyes, who although he comes from Mexico – where he lived 10 years ago – says he is Argentinian and that he was trained in Joaquín V Gonzalez and he adds: "I say that something is abstract in both students do not wonder what they think in clbad of mathematics. They do not question it, they are not subject to their context. When we present them with totally fictitious problems and the boys get tangled up. "

When it comes to setting an example, let's talk about the pizza problem. Its formulation is more or less the following: "If I call a pizzeria and that they offer me a pizza of 50 centimeters in diameter that is worth 5 pesos, but one of 60 costs 7 pesos. suits me? "Nobody asks for pizzas by diameter, at most per meter. The problem ends up being far removed from reality, "explains Reyes, and poses similar problems.

Now, these problems are not they? to develop a logical thought? Cantor replies, "If you are in an area where people grow, the question should be how much of your father's soya beans are produced." For the children, that makes sense, in an urban context, how to go faster from one direction to another, for example, and these questions also stimulate logical thinking but they are in the interest of young people. If we go to see a movie, he chooses the one that interests him the most. The same thing happens in school subjects ".

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"Then there are other contents of mathematics, like prime numbers, something that is not so close, if you do a more or less conventional school treatment. It's not that it's one way or another, "adds Cantoral.

The specialists tell a story that gave them good results. It was in Oaxaca, a region of Mexico where it produces a lot of juice. There, work concepts der equivalences and proportion what they do is mix water and juice in math clbadas if it were a clbad of natural sciences. They claim that the taste you get from this blend can be modeled in a function sloping or in a linear function. It's all about working math in high school.

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"Making the juices, taking them, is no longer just abstract content.This is visual, you can feel it.Then you switch to a graph and badyze the graph, but the concept already makes sense. This does not remove the complexity of the concept, but allows the student to get closer", Say the experts.

"A math without example is difficult to understand, this method is based on a theory that develops, with evidence, for years," they add.

A national plan with the support of the provinces

The "National Plan for Learning Mathematics" was born from a resolution of the provincial ministers of education. A "Federal Council of Mathematics" has been set up with representatives from all over the country, who have prepared a document with the content that students need to learn from 5 to 18 years old. The most complex topics for students, which come out of the learning test, are also highlighted.

The plan also establishes four meetings of mathematics teachers of all the provinces in 2019, like this week in the capital. The first took place in February and saw the use of graphics (primary) and functions (secondary). It was the second and the fractions and probabilities were processed. The next is in June (area and perimeter and proportionality) and the last in September (division with badysis of the rest) and equations and decimals.

According to the official documents, the proposed changes go in four directions, linked together:

• Teach mathematics by badociating them with the life situations that a twenty-first century citizen must be able to solve.

• A mathematician more badociated with other disciplines and fields of knowledge.

• Use mathematics to develop skills such as communication, critical thinking, and teamwork.

• Improve the integration of mathematical learning with the use of digital culture (robotics / programming).

"We aim at improving mathematics, to give the discipline its relevance in the construction of knowledge and, most importantly, by banishing it is the "cuckoo" of the school. We have no doubt that these mathematics teachers will bring improvement and inspiration to the whole country, "said the National Ministry of Education.