Zooming through with Formula 1 Mathemagics
Today about 50% of students obtained Grade ‘C’ , ‘D’ and ‘E’ which 80% of them lost interest in the field of mathematics, science & technology later. On the side, from the remaining 50% of the students who obtained Grade ‘A’ and ‘B’ at UPSR level, 50% of them ended up in arts stream finding secondary mathematics is difficult. In upper secondary level, the enrolment in the sciences is less than the expected ratio 60:40 in most of the schools.
The main cause of the students suffering from mathematics phobia is because mathematics is so perfect. 2+2 has to be 4 and not 3 or 5. That’s what scares the students. Teachers through constant corporal punishments and memory based learning scare off the child from a junior class itself. Later on this very fear becomes a phobia which leads to the students dropping Mathematics in Higher classes. Also there are a lot of misunderstood words in Mathematics which are not properly defined and thus create a fear. Words like say Quadratics, Simultaneous, Algebra etc their meanings are not clear and hence to Math Phobia.
As the world is moving into the era of science & technology, mathematics & science are important. The skills in both subjects are extremely important from the earlier stage as it is the motivating factor in later life. The conventional system which has been taught in school has its limitations. The conventional methods of mathematical computations consist of rigid, sometimes monotonous procedures that are uniformly applied to all problems of a given time. As its only one-side of brain education; left-brain, it lacks creativity and the result is often boredom, strain and a lack of enjoyment for both children and teacher. Besides that, 90% of the subjects that are taught in school are left-brain based subjects. Core school subjects like Geography, History, English, Economics, Law, Physics, Chemistry, Science including Mathematics all require left brain functions such as learning facts, analyzing information, rational thinking, mathematics and logic.
So,if the left-brain is constantly being demanded to perform 90% of the time in school, then what about the right-brain? It is totally under-utilized. As a result, it gets ‘really bored’ and it ends up distracting instead. It is because the right-brain is looking for some attention. The solution for this problem is to involve both the right and left brain in the learning process. In fact, this will literally double the brain power since both sides of the brain are being utilized.
By contrast to the rigid conventional mathematics system that develops the left-brain, M.Selvaraju, found new solutions that are proven to empower the right – brain that amazed and astonished most of the people around the globe irrespective of race and religion. For example, the confidence in the learners can be built in seconds through solving a very complex calculation creatively such as 2301 ÷ 9 in less than 5 seconds mentally, even without knowing the multiplication of 9 at all and the division process. The ability to perform calculations mentally, in head, proven to empower the functionalities of the right – brain leads to full brain optimization. This turns Mathematics into a FUN subject and creates INNOVATIVE minds. The formulas also were user – friendly that encourages the learners to experiment and play with the numbers. These will eliminate math – phobia, enhance the memory power, boost a sudden high confidence and turn the students into quality students.
M.Selvaraju, founder of Magic Maths Organization(PMM), was supported by Dana Belia to conduct the program Formula 1 Mathemagics for 100 students who are academically weak and underprivileged in Perai, Penang. The vision of PMM is to keep the interest in Mathematics amongst our students, parents and community as per the line of vision of our beloved Prime Minister to convert Malaysia into a mathematical, scientific and technological based country by 2020. M.Selvaraju discovered a series of fun, easy and speed method from Ancient Indian Scriptures that has been used in international organizations such as United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), INTEL CORPORATION, MICROSOFT, IBM, International Mathematics Olympiad, India, Singapore , for its competitive exams preparations.
A total of 100 students who are weak in Mathematics are selected from 3 schools: SK.Taman Inderawasih, SK.Khir Johari and SK.St. Mark to attend the weekly class of Formula 1 Mathemagics program at their respective schools. A total of 5 youth volunteers were recruited to teach the students on the formulas every week for a duration of 3 months. Before the start of the class, all students will need to attend a Diagnostic Test, consisting of 100 arithmetic questions to be solved within 30 minutes. About 95 % of the students are not able to answer instead they lose confidence using the conventional maths method. After that, the students will be taught 9 formulas every week, and at the end of the program, a written Speed Test and mental arithmetic ‘Speed Quiz’ competition were carried on.
Speed test consists of 100 questions to be solved in 30 minutes just like the diagnostic Test. Surprisingly, about 92% of the students showed positive improvements, whereby 72% of the students transformed to get grade A & B, while 18 students got grade C. 17 students were selected as high – achievers, amongst them, 7 scored from grade ‘E’ to ‘A’, 6 from grade ‘D’ to ‘A’ and 4 from grade ‘C’ to ‘A’. Besides that, about 85% of the students showed remarkable improvement in terms of the attitude, skills and strength towards learning mathematics in schools. The 17 high – achievers were honored with trophies for their excellence in performing in the Speed Test.
‘Speed Quiz’ is a competition where each student representing their school will need to answer 5 complex calculations mentally such as 4342 x 11, 3222 ÷ 9, 98 x 97, RM 100 – RM 46.32 within 50 seconds. From the competition, a team from SK.Khir Johari won the 3rd Prize, SK. St.Mark for runners up and champion goes to Team SK.Taman Inderawasih. Team of SK.Taman Inderawasih won the Challenge Trophy of Speed Quiz Competition which has been organized for a first of its kind in Malaysia towards creating awareness amongst the teachers, parents and students on a new methodology to boost interest in Mathematics. Besides that, there was also a Speed Quiz competition for parents’ category, whereby 10 parents had successfully won trophies. The Prize – Giving and Certification of Formula 1 Mathemagics program was officiated by Mr.K.Suvarmani, B/p Pengarah Bahagian Perancangan & Penyelidikan Dasar Pendidikan, Ministry of Education, Putrajaya,KL accompanied by Mr.Nafiah bin Mat, Ketua Sektor Pengurusan Akademik, JPN,Pulau Pinang on 17.8.2014(Sunday) at Dewan Mahligai Kencana, Seberang Jaya, Penang. The event started at 4 pm with speeches, followed by prize – giving and certification. A total of 100 students were honored with the participation certification while 5 youth were honored with volunteer certificates. The program was lauded by the officials as a creative and innovative methodology to convert a maths-phobia to maths – interest. En. Hairun Reza, parents of the program thanked the organizer of the program said his daughter, Nurdinie Izzati from St.Mark has transformed in her school maths examination from ‘C’ to ‘A’ during the Formula 1 Mathemagics program. He added that the formulas have excited her daughter and developed remarkable confidence when it comes to Mathematics. For school programs and more information, visit www.mathsraju.com or call M.Selvaraju at 013 – 445 2318.
