On September 12th, teachers Bob and Ellen Kaplan, founders of The Math Circle teaching approach, were in Rio de Janeiro to attend the public event “What if children liked Math?”. Some 200 people visited the head office of the National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) to listen to the Kaplan teachers present the approach, which is being implemented in classes for more than 7,000 students in the O Círculo da Matemática do Brasil project.
The teachers explained that the ideal environment for teaching Math is for it to be pressure-free, as if it were a conversation between friends who are trying to solve a problem. Ellen commented that mathematicians tend to be cooperative, because Math is hard. “Mathematics is our lost mother tongue and we are trying to recover it,” said Bob. “The basic action of our circle is ‘tell me and I’ll forget, ask me and I’ll find out.’ We show an attractive, accessible mystery,” he added.
Bob and Ellen explained that the teacher must resist the temptation to show the answers and let students discover solutions with confidence and in group, to have pride in themselves and the group. “A great strategy is to make a mistake. The then student takes the chalk off your hand, and you have achieved what you wanted,” Bob said. To exemplify, the Kaplan teachers showed a sample lesson of O Círculo da Matemática do Brasil, inviting people from the audience to participate in solving a problem.
Also present at the event were the vice president of Instituto TIM, Mario Girasole, the Math Team coordinator of the Technical Coordination of the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Department of Education, Vânia Fonseca Maia, and the general coordinator of the Brazilian Public School Math Olympics (OBMEP), Cláudio Landim.
