Reading between the Lines: How does a mathematician do that?

We all know the pure pleasure of listening to stories as children and we have, in this issue, articles that demonstrate how storytelling can be used to great success in subjects as diverse as maths, physics, social studies and inclusion in schools everywhere – urban or rural. There are descriptions of how discussions emerging from a single story can be skillfully used to arrive at some really important understanding. All this adds up to creating a channel of exchange that cuts across age groups and backgrounds and finds common ground in the magical world of stories.

Truth and Math: The July 2023 issue is as good as its cover!

Wellbeing is a complex concept and while a wellness-focused school culture is key, it also requires a very individualised focus. Children function at the level of emotions. Their wellbeing depends on how the school, teachers, other students, and the entire ecosystem make them feel. In this issue, there are several articles that should make us think about how a child who is excluded feels. How does a child whose family life is full of strife feel in school? Why does another feel that no one would visit their home because they are poor or belong to a lower caste?

Mathematical Loops: The March 2023 issue of AtRiA takes on a (S)trip with a Twist! Enjoy the journey!

How was oxygen discovered? When was it first recognised as a chemical element? 

How do we transform the science lab into a space that encourages students to learn about germination by designing and conducting their own experiments? 

How do metaphors, explanations, and illustrations in textbooks and our classroom instruction shape common misconceptions about the atomic theory? 

What role do empathy and care for local places have in addressing the ecological crisis? 

Join us in exploring these and many other questions. 

This issue is about a term that is very much in the minds of educators today: Socio-emotional Learning (SEL), and which has become an integral part of learning and school life. Schools have ​‘Happiness Curriculums’ to develop self-awareness, enable effective communication, and work collaboratively towards collective goals instead of individual ones to bring equity to the learning process by becoming inclusive and empathetic. Teachers are looking at children as citizens who need to take their place in the larger social setting and learn to contribute to society while themselves leading meaningful and mindful lives.

Construction of a Tunnel through a Mountain- a broad theme for the power of mathematics to help you solve daily life problems.

This issue of the Learning Curve tries to answer some hard questions about the present environmental crisis : who can we turn to make the changes required? How can we attempt to restore some of the lost balance? How can we make sure that this planet does not become extinct by the next millennium? Schools across the country are doing their bit, beginning with primary school, to create a well-informed, environmentally-aware generation. 

The Lens of Computational Thinking teaches us to look at the same things with fresh eyes, the July 2022 issue invites you to do just that!

What role do ​‘chemical experiences’ play in helping children grasp the particulate nature of matter and use this idea to explain observed phenomena?

How do we use the art and aesthetics of lithography to introduce children to chemical reactions? What skills would children learn from this multisensorial and fun approach to science? 

Why is it important for teachers to trace the history of evolving definitions of elements and atoms, and communicate the conditional nature of their validity? 

Can we use poetry to teach chemistry? How would it change the ways in which students engage with science? 

Join us in exploring these questions in three sections of our latest issue – Our Chemical World, I am a Scientist, and Snippets. 

In the list of new teaching methods that teachers quickly thought of for online classes during the pandemic, the worksheet emerged as a learning aid that is creative, and participative, making children want to use their minds more independently. This issue features articles that showcase tried and tested methods of creating and using worksheets.

The Lens of Computational Thinking teaches us to look at the same things with fresh eyes, the July 2022 issue invites you to do just that!

Why do party balloons rise in air? How high can they go? When do they drift to the ground?

How much water do plants lose? Do they lose it only as water vapour? Can they regulate water-loss? 

Which chemical bonds are stronger — covalent or ionic? How can we tell? 

Can we grow a dense forest of native species in congested urban spaces or degraded land? How long would this take?

Who were the first people to measure the size of the earth? How did they do it? 

Join us in exploring these questions in our new section — Ask a Question. 

When the life-altering COVID-19 first struck, teachers and students alike had to re-organise themselves; teachers in their pedagogical methodologies, students in their learning capabilities. Overnight, everyone went digital – smartphones, computers and TV screens became the printed page and everyone learned as they went along. 

This issue of the Learning Curve is devoted to the questions everyone had to face during the period of school closures: what can we do to mitigate the difficulties of adjustment that primary school children will undoubtedly face on their return to school? The most heartening aspect of the articles in the issue is the tremendous resilience and innovativeness displayed by everyone concerned in adapting to school closures.

The articles in this issue are broadly based on the two aspects of play in learning – the innumerable lessons that are learnt from play – teamwork, strategy, inclusion, respect, sharing, handling fights, settling arguments, addressing bullying, and second, how play can be used as pedagogy for circular learning as well as structured activities such as educational videos and unstructured ones like pretend play. The idea behind both is to nurture the free spirit with which child must learn.

Perch on the branches of the Tremendous Tree of mathematics and enjoy your read. At Right Angles July 2021 is packed with a variety of articles and the online version has several absorbing additional articles. 

Does the teaching and learning of science change when we give importance to relationships with people, other beings, and the places they inhabit? 

How do we use an exploration of water to help children connect basic science concepts with personal experiences and pressing environmental issues? 

Can observing, exploring, and working in their natural environment offer children and teachers the opportunity to cultivate an intuitive understanding of the nature and process of science? 

What personal choices and simple actions in our everyday lives can help us begin engaging with climate change? 

Join us in exploring these questions in the theme section of this issue — Teaching as if the Earth Matters.

A lot of thought has been applied by individuals, teachers and organisations across the country to give the principles of responsible citizenship and shape in the minds of our children. All the articles in this issue show how dedicated have been the attempts to use the classroom to implant and nurture the ideas consecrated in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Isn’t mathematics simply divine? Not an unexpected line from the At Right Angles team but one that we will back up with our Features article from the March 2021 issue: Geometric Constructions from the Sulvasutras. It’s an incisive dive from there to the Utilitarian Math World but your disillusionment will be healed with delightful articles on understanding some of the whys of procedures and rules in mathematics such as the divisibility rules, the square root algorithm, the formula for the median and the folk method to find the height of a tree.

We bring you a new first with this issue: for the first time, AtRiA goes beyond its covers with three additional articles available only in the online mode. A big shout out to the numerous submissions which enable us to take this leap.

Do revert with your feedback on AtRiA.​editor@​apu.​edu.​in

COVID-19 made it clearer than ever that the school does not and cannot be looked at in isolation from society. In this issue, there are articles that show not only teachers supporting children’s learning during the closure, but also how parents overwhelmingly supported teachers to continue their work; how, when all other ways of distance learning failed, the unanimous decision of parents was that the education of their children should go on.

Beyond Four Walls — Contain a mathematician in a room and you can be sure that some thinking on quadrilaterals will happen! Our second issue during the pandemic has much to keep you absorbed and happily engaged with problems- of the mathematical kind. From age digit reversals to an algorithm for evacuating a room — there is material for every age group. We begin with the all important question: Why Should You Study Mathematics? And we also carry a review of the Classes I‑III Sikkim Mathematics Textbooks, the development of which our URC-PDP played such a key role in. Do revert with your feedback on AtRiA.​editor@​apu.​edu.​in

This issue is focused on the Pandemic. Read ​‘The Basics’ section to explore: what strategies do epidemiologists use to control the spread of infection? Are viruses the most complex or the simplest forms of life? What has caused the spike in frequency of new zoonoses since the 20^th century? In ​‘The Infection’ section, engage with questions like: why do we believe that SARS-CoV‑2 is a product of natural evolution? How exact are measurements of death rates for an ongoing pandemic? Or, how does the nature and context of social interaction affect the spread of COVID-19? Delve into ​‘Our Response’ section to read: why ​‘designing’ and ​‘making’ vaccines against SARS-CoV‑2 is uncertain and time-consuming? What can we learn from deliberately exposing healthy consenting individuals to a weakened form of the SARS-CoV‑2 virus? Which tests would be most effective for contact tracing & which for population-wide screening? How do we identify antivirals against SARS-CoV‑2? Can community health workers clinically diagnose COVID-19 syndrome in the absence of testing kits? Why is training and provision of personal protective equipment for ASHA workers essential for effective healthcare? How can a reverse quarantine approach help us use herd immunity to our advantage? That’s not all. Are you looking for resources on understanding concerns & approaches towards the mental health of the elderly, children, and those under quarantine? Or mythbusters around SARS-CoV‑2? Check out our Snippets.

This issue proves that children can, and do, learn, provided they get the encouragement, support, respect and dignity that is due to them during the process and after. The response got for the topic was so overwhelming that it led to the creation of a second part.. It is all about children learning. and enjoying themselves in the process, rather than just getting a formal education.

As the world goes through lock down and social distancing, it is easy to feel less and less a part of the whole and more and more a small, isolated part. But that does not make us or anybody else, any less a part of the whole and we need to realise that every part of the whole matters. 

But are all the parts of the whole equal? If not, what can we do to redress the balance?

Think mathematically!

What does evolution by natural selection mean? How does ​‘survival of the fittest’ explain the transformation of male clownfish into females? Or the many non-combative, non-competitive, and seemingly friendly interactions observed between ants and plants? Does it provide clues to the identity of the mysterious descendants of dinosaurs in today’s world? These are some of the questions we explore in our theme section ​‘Evolution revisited’. In Annals of History, relive unsung surprises in the process of discovery of penicillin with interactive resources designed for the science classroom. How do we use pendulums to illustrate fundamental concepts in mechanics? How do we recognize and clarify incorrect student conceptions of the science of everyday phenomena? Find out with the detachable activity sheets & concept builders in ​‘The Science Lab’.

Children are, first and foremost, individuals and so it follows that their developmental patterns are influenced by environmental conditions. With even twins differing in their abilities and milestones, it is near impossible to predict at what rate a child will learn. Thus children enter school with a wide range of abilities — and therefore possibilities.

However, the assumption that all children can learn the basic curriculum at the same pace, in the same way and to the same extent and level- is unsupported either by research or by personal experience. If we agree that children have varied strengths (multiple intelligences) the it surely follows that teaching methods have also got to vary correspondingly and that there have got to be multiple teaching styles.

This issue addresses many of these concerns and to do that we have a wide range of articles from writers across the country which establish resoundingly that every child can indeed learn — only it requires empathy and compassion from the teacher to make it happen.

Vision 2020 – As we move into the 9^th year of AtRiA’s existence, we refocus for clarity. The March 2020 issue talks about Breaking Down Barriers: A Mathematical Approach. Launch right into the how and what with B. Sury’s article on Tiresome Paths, Water Gates and Euler’s Formula. But there’s more than networks and circuits here, starting with this issue, we will be focusing sharply on the challenges and difficulties of the average mathematics teacher and hoping to share and discuss strategies to help those who struggle with the nature and pedagogy of mathematics.

We have some wonderful material to draw you in- Conversations on the Greatest Common Divisor, Trials with Triangles, Impossible Triangles on Dot Sheets and some great Search Problems for the Middle School to mention a few. We start a new section called ViewPoint and continue with our photo series Captured Mathematics. TechSpace features the free dynamic geometry software Robocompass and our PullOut is on Angles. Our review this time is on the Mathematics of India.