参与者
Mr. Kaviraj SHEORAJ
Topic:
Graph Sketching in Additional Mathematics – the weird way
Merits:

Mathematics Teacher at Bon Accueil State College

 

Member of the School Disciplinary Committee

SMET (Subject Matter Expert for Tablet PC Project) at Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE), Centre for Open & Distance Learning (CODL)

Lead Coordinator, CLASSE21

Exam Marker for Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) for O-Level Mathematics, Paper 1 (14 years)

Treasurer-cum-Managing Committee member of Commonwealth Association of Science, Technology & Mathematics Educators (CASTME - Mauritius) (2012 till date)

 

Achievements

2016 Selected to represent Mauritius at the Global Educator Exchange (E2) Programme in Hungary, Budapest. A yearly event by Microsoft Education to celebrate the prowess of innovative educators of the world

2016 Awarded the title of Microsoft Certified Educator (MCE) through examination given in March 2016, in Hungary

2017 Awarded certificate for Team Building & Bonding course by Civil Service College

2017 Conducted training workshops for Extended Stream with ICT Educators; collaborated in the creation of digital resources for extended non-ICT

2017 Panel member for the Extended Stream – ICT Integration

2018 Active member of school working on 21st Century Education

2019 Team Member for Research Paper writing on Classe21 Project

2019 Team member to assist in the organization of the yearly competition CodeCraft (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) – Conceptualised by MIE, funded by Rotary Club of Port Louis & Approved by the Ministry of Education

2019 Trained & seasoned Marker for CIE Maths Paper 1

Contribution:

Rising incidents of students losing precious marks when sketching graphs have become an increasing concern among learners who take to School Certificate Examinations be it in Mathematics or even Additional Mathematics. In general parlance, sketching of graphs is abhorred by many students who simply develop a fear of the topic with time. Graph-sketching is complex in nature, and it requires conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and dexterity which students ought to learn as they move from grade 10 to grade 13 of their secondary school years. Their inability to produce smooth and decent graphs often demotivates them and in the long run they tend to harbour a distaste for the subject matter. The purpose of this discourse is to provide an innovative alternative method – though weird – which ensures in theory and in practice, the production of smooth and decent marks-scoring graphs. This weird method consists of reversing the steps to sketch a quadratic curve ensuring that the line of symmetry is drawn first, followed by the smooth graph and the axes are placed in the end.  In comparison to the old approach, here the graph produced becomes the constant while the axes which are represented by two pens become the variables. It is an approach in which the teacher demonstrates, engages students, monitors understanding, provides timely support, and gradually withdraws support as learners gain independence. The idea of reversing the steps while sketching curves was found to play the greatest role in facilitating student’s understanding of this topic. Results indicated that incorporating the weird method of graph sketching does have a positive effect in motivating students. Both teachers and students agreed that it is a powerful and flexible method for teaching and learning. However, further experiments are required to investigate more about its effect in the classroom environment.

Expectations:

To wholeheartedly be part of such a gigantic international conglomeration and cover it in length, breadth and depth to compare and measure our islands stand and position vis-à-vis innovation in education
To meet maximum educators and join communities of practice through the great network of educators’ present.
To ready a catalogue of best practices to bring back to Mauritius with a view to adapting same to our local context and sharing with fellow educators