BLACKBOARD AND INTERACTIVE MONITOR – maths and IT lessons in Polish schools
w with Intervie ka echows Zyta Cz
Natalia Szenrok-Brożyńska, PHC: Why do contemporary adults often find maths difficult? It seems to me that many adults find it hard to help their kids with their maths homework – even at the very early and basic level of education. Zyta Czechowska: Maths has never been a favourite school subject. We should realise that the main purpose of teaching it is not just to teach the content listed in the curriculum but also to develop in students a desirable intellectual attitude. In particular, to stimulate students’ intellectual activity and desire to solve problems on their own, develop logical and critical thinking skills as well as the ability to prescind and analyse events mathematically. What is more, teaching should be done in such a way as to gradually create in a child’s mind a complete, structural and lasting image of mathematics. A student should realise its usefulness and application not only to understand its intricacies, but first and foremost to want to learn it. At the first stage, maths should be taught through active and creative educational games. Unfortunately, most of us did not have mindful and reflective maths teachers who would focus on developing their pupils' mathematical competence rather than worry about ticking off the material from the curriculum. Everything that is unclear, learnt by heart and has no reference to everyday life is simply ephemeral. Thus, many of us, when
24
we reach adulthood, cannot do even the simplest calculations. Many students also struggle with dyscalculia, which is a specific difficulty with learning maths. Today it is diagnosed more often than in the past. Contrary to what it may seem, this difficulty does not result from laziness or unwillingness to learn maths, but from an anomaly in the part of the brain responsible for mathematical skills. It is a disfunction of the ability to do arithmetic tasks. Hence the development of mental processes responsible for acquiring mathematical skills takes more time. How can we use mathematical competence in our everyday lives? Does contemporary Polish school teach this kind of useful mathematics? I teach mathematics to students with mild intellectual disability at a school for students with special educational needs. They follow the same general education curriculum as other students without disability who find maths difficult and often not enjoyable at all. The difficulties with cause-and-effect thinking, drawing conclusions, prescinding and processing information resulting from their disability lead to discouragement and lack of motivation to take on the challenge and increase their mathematical competence. My way of getting them interested in maths is to show them how it
