VENEZUELA: Teaching Maths by Radio

By Gonzalo Ortiz Reprint | | Print |

Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo

CARACAS, Aug 6 1996 (IPS) - Some 300,000 Venezuelan children are benefitting from an innovatory new programme to teach maths by radio, a method so successful that state governors are fighting to receive the programmes.

The broadcasts work through key characters the children can identify with, sound effects, songs, jokes, games and physical activities, making maths fun instead of the dry slog it is for most of the world’s children.

The project was the brainchild of the Centre of Improvement of Science Teaching (CENAMEC), and World Bank funding allowed for daily half-hour radio slots to reach children in thousands of classrooms in eight of the 22 states of Venezuela and the Federal District of Caracas.

CENAMEC director, Enrique Planchart, said the programme was initially designed for rural and marginal urban areas, though now even the expensive private schools of the capital are using it, because of the “spectacular results” achieved.

The eventual plan is to extend it across the whole country.

“The most important change is in the teachers, as the programme gives them a positive attitude to teaching mathematics,” said Nora Jaegerman, director general of the “Interactive Mathematics” programme.

Each child is a born scientist with mathematical ability, she said, but society – their parents and teachers – and the traditional teaching methods feed them with negative attitudes to the subject.

Many teachers have inherited this negative attitude, and are poorly trained in teaching mathematics.

“That’s where Interactive Mathematics comes in,” said Jaegerman, “because it does not substitute the teacher, but supports them. The teachers find that teaching maths is easy and enjoyable, and the pupils make rapid progress.”

Any classroom with a radio can receive the programmes aimed at each level of primary schooling, setting up real life or fantasy situations and guiding the children through games and exercises.

Music plays an important part in the programmes along with the sound effects, all composed by Annely Keller and Alberto Mata.

“The music reinforces mathematical objectives and, through physical movement, induces a positive attitude to learning,” said Keller.

According to several independent evaluations, the programme has improved pupil achievement, not only in mathematics but also in other areas of the curriculum, leading to a reduction in truancy.

The 30 minute transmission is accompanied by a teacher’s guide advising them on follow up activities and providing suggestions for support materials – many as simple as small stones, sticks, paper notes and such.

The teachers are trained in a session that lasts no more than 10 hours, and another two hours for the school head.

“By being transmitted on public radio, Interactive Mathematics also reaches parents, middle school pupils and people outside the formal education system. In reality, we do not know how many people are listening to the programme informally,” said Jaegerman.

A visit to a classroom where the programme is being used shows a class giving full attention, and for many it is a welcome break from a mediocre education system suffering from a shortage of teachers and frequent strikes.

The programme covers all the objectives of the maths curriculum, and allows an integral personal interaction with the subject for each child.

Jose Luis Silva, Radio Nacional producer said the programme also helped fill in the gaps left by the frequent strikes for “even when there are no classes, the programmes are still broadcast and the children can listen in at home.”

Of course, this is still no replacement for the enjoyment of singing along with a classful of friends and an able teacher, but it is the first initiative of its kind, and at a cost of a mere 60 US cents per pupil, it is worth its weight in gold.