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Durham students are reinventing the way they learn math

Click to play video: 'Board games and standing desks: Durham students changing the way they learn math'
Board games and standing desks: Durham students changing the way they learn math
Math can be one of the harder subjects to teach and it's a difficult one for many students to grasp. But the Durham Catholic District School Board is offering students a chance to change the lesson style. Jasmine Pazzano has more – Feb 28, 2018

Grade 10 student Jaden White says she had never thought of herself as a “math person,” but she can beat her classmates in a game of tic-tac-toe.

She said playing games has helped her better understand the subject.

“In elementary school, I wasn’t taught the way I should have been taught,” White said. “They put me behind my grade level, and they made me do grade six math when I should have been in grade seven. I [didn’t have] a lot of confidence.”

But she said since joining Math Councils, she has not only wanted to learn about the subject — she wants to change the way it’s taught.

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The Councils are groups of students and teachers formed at different Durham Catholic District School Board schools, and their aim is to have students collaborate with teachers to let them know the best way to teach the subject and engage students.

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In Oshawa on Tuesday, dozens of students from the Councils tested out new, innovative ways to learn, including standing desks, writing on whiteboards, and White’s favourite way to learn: playing board games.

“If I don’t understand it, I know I have my peers and my teachers to help me out,” said White.

“What we really… want to do is focus on the collaborative experience,” said Santiago Aguilar, another Councils member.

Math teachers who are part of the Councils have been listening to the students’ suggestions and have started using their strategies in their classrooms in hopes of making math more fun to learn. “It’s that perception that math is hard and there’s specific people [who] are good at math and there’s some people that aren’t good at math,” said math teacher Lisa Salamone. “We’re really trying to break that down.”
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Wednesday’s student meeting comes as the Ontario government has flagged three of the Durham catholic board’s schools as needing “intensive support,” which includes better teaching tools. The schools received this designation because many of its students earned low scores on recent EQAO tests.

These new learning methods may help boost students’ grades, said the executive director of the Council of Ontario Directors of Education.

“I think the new learning methods should be some alternatives that progressive teachers would offer,” Frank Kelly said. “They appeal, in a lot of ways, to the minds of students who are used to working with computers and working with digital concepts.”

White said she has come a long way when it comes to learning math — she is now taking academic courses, and she is traveling to Norway with the school board in the spring to share her ideas with international students.

“I feel a lot more confident,” she said. “I can raise my hand in front of the teacher now and I don’t feel like I’m going to be judged.”

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