The Nation Newspaper

Tag: maths

  • Mind Builders gets Maths Clinic

    Mind Builders gets Maths Clinic

    Principal Mind Builders High School, Alausa, Lagos, Mr Francis Fasuyi has identified lack of multiple and logical intelligence as a major reason for failure in mathematics.

    Though this deficiency is natural in some pupils, Fasuyi believes with time and proper intellectual training, learners can get over them.

    “We have various types of intelligence – verbal and logical. Most students have verbal intelligence. They can talk well but when it comes to logical intelligence, not all of them are endowed. So we have to develop this multiple intelligence in each child.”

    To help pupils of Mind Builders to improve in the subject, Fasuyi said that the school has partnered with Maths Clinic International to establish a laboratory in the school.

    The Mind Builders Maths Clinic centre boasts of about 20 computers with earphones, and a large flat screen television to serve the teacher.  All the computers are loaded with a software that treats all topics in the mathematics curriculum for secondary schools as well as past questions for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and comes with audio-visual demonstrations.

    “The centre consists of animations, videos, graphic and text resources. The interest of students in Mathematics is being stimulated using the audio visual approach which is totally different from the traditional approach that they are used to. It provides enhanced and augmented learning experience for pupils.

    This is further boosted with each student getting the opportunity to learn at his or her pace. It makes explanations for otherwise abstract mathematical concepts better delivered to the delight of the students. It has boosted the learning experience and performance of students as far as mathematics is concerned,” he said.

    Fasuyi said the centre was opened to simplify the story of mathematics. He added, that the ICT tools are learner-friendly.

    Given the importance of the subject to tertiary education, Fasuyi said the centre justifies the school’s attempt to develop multiple intelligence in its pupils.

    “They must have a little of verbal, logical, mathematical intelligence and a little of inter-relationship,” Fasuyi added.

    “In the past, the impression was that if you want to go for law you don’t need Mathematics so with that the students start avoiding Mathematics. But today, there is no subject you want to go for in the university that you don’t require a credit in Mathematics. So, we have to encourage them to make sure they do their best in mathematics and English.”

    A member of staff of Maths Clinic International Mr Emmanuel Isibor who manages the centre said the pupils can do different things at the same time depending on their topic of interest.

    “That is why they had personal computers in front of them. We have general classes too where we use the flat screen television set,” he said.

    Isibor blamed the fear for mathematics to a poor foundation caused by not being taught properly over a long period of time by unqualified teachers.

    “We discovered that Mathematics is not simplified for students in most cases which make it easy for them to pull away from the subject.

    “We decided that there must be a change of attitude toward the subject and came up with the Maths Clinic. The child will sit down, watch the topic that is difficult and then solve until he scores 80 per cent before the computer will allow the child progress,” he explained.

    He said the programme was designed in such a way that if a child goes through it, the child can score distinction in an external exam no matter how complex the topic is.

    The outgoing Head Girl of the school Tobiloba Olajiga, said the clinic has helped her improve her mathematical skills and has helped other pupils too.

    The outgoing Head Boy, Damilola Awoyemi, said he was an average pupil in Mathematics before the clinic was introduced; but is now very good.

    Though he complained that the centre came when he was in SS3, he was glad that it came before he wrote his West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) because it helped them prepare for the examination.

    He said the school made a wise decision starting the centre because pupils are very ICT compliant these days and prefer to do things on computers instead of pen and paper.

    “Computer makes learning easy and interesting, doing it in class on pen and paper is very boring. Computer makes the mathematics class exciting and fun,” he said.

     

  • Winners emerge in Foundation Maths contest

    Winners emerge in Foundation Maths contest

    Master Ogundimu Oluwatosin of Yewa (Egbado) College Ilaro, Ogun State, is the overall best student at the third edition of the Mathematics is Simple contest.

    Adelowo Adedamola and denado Moses of Great Grace Science School, Owode-Yewa emerged first and second runners up.

    The inspiring, educative and challenging contest tasks participants’ knowledge of Mathematics without the use of calculator. The yearly contest done in both senior and junior cadres drew participants from across Yewa axis of Ogun State.

    For their victory, the trio got a plaque, medal and cash rewards each, in addition to free mathematics textbooks and mathematical set.

    The competition, which started in 2012, is courtesy Our Generation Foundation (OGF) which began the third edition (preliminary stage) in May. The knock out stage was held on June 7, pruning participants to 118; these proceeded to the final stage that eventually produced another 59 who featured in the grand finale in June 26.

    Participants at the grand finale were: Edu Gabriel of Glorious Foundation College, Adeyemi Blessing Able God Int’l Schools, Adelowo and Oluwatosin.

    Others were: Akintade Akinoluwa Bello Aishat and Adenijo Adeyemi of Poly Staff College, Ilaro; Subair Murtala and Denapo Moses also of Great Grace Science School, Owode-Yewa and Lawal Ayokunle from Best Legacy Academy, Owode-Yewa.

    The visioner Mrs Mogbonjubola Odumusi, expressed happiness that the competition which began with a handful of schools boasts of nearly 30 schools in attendance.

    The Mathematics is simple; according to her, it is to make participants increase their knowledge of the subjects; while also helping others demystify the fear it often poses to students.

    “This is our modest way of contributing towards improved knowledge in Mathematics our joy is to see these children improve in knowledge of mathematics and inspire others towards same goal. We are hoping that with time, and improved funding, we can further motivate winners through better rewards,” she said.

    “The best way to win in life and overcome every obstacle or difficulty is by conquering fear. Believe in yourself first that you can do it and then hand over the rest to God,” Odumosu added.

    Poly Staff College won the ‘Overall best School in mathematics’; while a teacher in the school Mr Joshua Dajok clinched the “Overall best Mathematics teacher’. Oluwatosin of Yewa (Egbado) College Ilaro won the ‘Outstanding student in SSI, while Edu Gabriel, won in the SS2 category. Olatunde Pelumi of Optimum Success College Ilaro claimed the ‘Best handwriting student’ award.

    The event also featured other activities such as recitation of square of number; imparting mathematical skills (where participants e-ray any given topic in maths to other, as well as quiz and career talk.

     

  • 13-year old wins Cowbell Maths contest again

    13-year old wins Cowbell Maths contest again

    Until last Thursday, no one pupil had won both the junior and senior categories of the Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC), which started in 1998. But Akintokun Adegboyega of Ota Total Academy, Ota in Ogun State now holds that record.

    On that day, at the Ibom Le Meridien Hotel and Resort, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the 13-year old was crowned the winner of the senior secondary category of the competition after scoring 96 per cent in the second stage examination.  He had won the junior category of the competition two years earlier as a JSS3 pupil.

    He attributes his success to hard work and a deliberate training programme by his school.

    “Our school has been training students for this competition right from JSS1.  My school sets aside brilliant students who are good in mathematics.  The best three among them are chosen to enter for the competition,” he said.

    Adegboyega did not achieve the feat without his mathematics teacher, Mr Ganiyu Fatai, who encouraged by his first win, put in efforts to prepare him to win again as an SS2 pupil.

    “We did not relent on our efforts because we know that nobody has that record in the history of the competition.  The school worked hard to make that record.  We thank God for crowning our effort with success,” he said.

    To prepare pupils for the examination each year, Fatai said the grooming starts from JSS1.

    He said: “We normally have cowbell students in all the classes.  When they are in SS1, they would have covered the WAEC syllabus.  Then we start with further mathematics and advanced mathematics to widen their scope.  Then for those in junior school by the time they are in JSS2, they would have completed the JSS syllabus.  In JSS3 we start them with SS1 syllabus.  So our JSS3 students can write WAEC and pass. So there is no question that will come around that will be strange.

    “We solve a lot of questions.  About 70 percent of Cowbell NASSMAC questions are word problem.  We teach the students various ways the questions can come.”

    Adegboyega won a star prize of N300,000, a laptop computer, trophy, plaque and a bag of branded products from the stables of Promasidor, makers of Cowbell milk and organisers of the programme.  His teacher was rewarded with N50,000, while the school got five desktop computers and a printer.  The duo will also get an all-expense paid trip to Ghana later in the year.

    And, if Adegboyega decides to study Mathematics in the University, the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) will sponsor him to any university anywhere in the world.

    Adegboyega was followed in the second position by 15-year old Fiyinfoluwa Abioye of the Nigerian Turkish International College (NTIC CO-ED), Wuse 2, Abuja with 85 per cent; and Babalola David Oluwasayo of Oritameta Baptist Model School, Ibadan, Oyo State who came third with 83.  They got N250,000 and N200,000 as cash prizes, plaques, and products.  Their teachers got N30,000 and N20,000, while the schools got three and two computers each.

    In the junior category, 13-year old Deborah Adesina of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt, Rivers State won with 81 per cent. Atolagbe Yusuf Olayinka of Nigerian Turkish International College, Isheri, Ogun State and Johnson Stella Doris of Reality High School, Ilesha, Osun State were the first and second runners-up in the junior category.  They were rewarded with between N150,000 and N250,000 and other gift prizes.

    The remaining 14 contestants in the top 10 of both category got N15,000 as consolation prize.  Those in the senior category also got mini laptops.

    In his speech at the event, Mr. Olivier Thiry, Managing Director of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, noted that for Nigeria to compete with the world in this digital age, its human capital must be well trained in the sciences.

    “Transformational development will come from the quality of human capital Nigeria has and this can only be developed through education especially the learning of mathematics and science,” he said.

    Thiry said that Promasidor believes in Nigeria and would continue to invest not only in its business but also in its host communities.

    He said: “We have demonstrated this faith in the Nigerian society by investing millions of naira in the conduct of the NASSMAC competition and we promise to sustain our support of mathematics as best as we can.”

    In his address, the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, who was represented by Mrs Chioma Philips, Director, Federal Inspectorate Service, Federal Ministry of Education, the Minister commended Promasidor for getting actively involved in the drive towards developing the standard of education in Nigeria.

    Also speaking, Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State implored other corporate organisations to emulate Promasidor, as education holds the key to the future of the nation.

     

  • Maths queen wins N.5m from bank

    Maths queen wins N.5m from bank

    This summer, 10-year old Temilade Ogunsanwo will be spending her holidays outside the country.  It is a gift from her parents for winning the Sterling Bank Mathematics Competition organised for primary school pupils in Lagos and beyond.

    The gesture, they said, has nothing to do with the N500,000 she got from the bank for winning the competition.

    Temilade, a Grade 6 pupil of Tomobid School, Agidingbi in Ikeja, was one of the seven pupils that scored 49 out of 50 marks in the multiple choice examination written by over 1,000 pupils recently. (None among the top 50 scored less than 47).

    When seven of them, later took a second examination, which was in theory, to determine the best three pupils, Temilade scored 96 per cent.

    She was followed by Esther Opemiposi Ojo of Olumowayo Nursery/Primary School who scored 84 per cent, while Ebiakpo Abeokuta scored 81 per cent.

    Their performance impressed the organisers of the examination, Sterling Bank, who praised the pupils for their brilliance.

    At a prize giving ceremony held at Caleb International College, Magodo, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, Executive Director (Finance and Strategy), said the response to the competition has encouraged the bank to make it an annual one.

    “This competition was the initiative of Caleb but as their banker, we immediately decided to support it fully.  We intend to take it to the national stage and make it an annual event.

    “We ended up with more than 1,000 entries from various parts of the country.  The first seven call 49/50.  There was a second round of testing and the performance was still very high,” he said.

    The top 51 pupils in the competition were rewarded with N50,000 each, while the top seven were specially recognised and presented with special prizes at the event.

    Second placed Esther got a cheque of N300,000, while Ebiakpo got N200,000.

    Esther’s teacher, Ayemomisan Olusola, was happy about the credibility of the competition, which he said placed all participants on equal pedestal to compete.  He was glad that his school, located in the suburbs, could perform so well.

    “The competition has been wonderful.  I feel elated that she did so well.  Our products are groomed to be the best,” he said.

    Temilade’s father, Mr Wale Ogunsanwo, a Deputy Registrar at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), said he was not surprised she won.

    “She has a track record of coming first,” he said.

  • Maths teacher for ICT

    The School of Science, has organised a training workshop, for 50 mathematics teachers, from Ondo East and West local government areas of the state.

    The programme, sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), had participants drawn from various public and privately-owned secondary schools in the two council areas.

    In his welcome address the College Librarian, Dr. Rotimi Egunjobi described the workshop, as timely and very important.

    According to Egunjobi, who represented the Provost, the fact that ICT has contributed meaningfully to the nation’s socio-economic development, it has also helped in enhancing knowledge acquisition. Teachers, as members of the global community, should avail themselves of the vast opportunity derivable from it, so as to improve, their efficiency, in service delivery, Egunjobi added.

     

  • N7.6m prizes to be won in maths contest

    Over N7.6 million will be given as prizes to winners of various stages of the 14th edition of the Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC).

    This is apart from gift awards such as laptops, plaques, desktop computers, printers, mathematics textbooks and other product prizes that will be presented to the winners, their teachers and schools.

    Beyond the awards, Mr Kachi Onubogu, an Executive Director at Promasidor, sponsors of the competition, said at the kick-off of the registration for this year’s edition, that the underlying objective of the competition is to replace the fear of Mathematics with a love for the subject by secondary school pupils.

    He added that the firm is hoping to reach out to even more pupils to participate nationwide this year. He said over 250,000 secondary school pupils have entered for the NASSMAC since its inception in 2001, and hopes to capture all secondary school pupils in future.

    “Mathematics is the bedrock of any scientific development. We understand that nutrition is great but if you don’t feed the mind, you will not achieve the best result. NASSMAC is meant to provide food for the soul. We have had over 250,000 kids that have participated in NASSMAC. My hope is that in years to come every Nigerian child will pass through NASSMAC and that it will spread the love for mathematics. We love nutrition, we love young people, and we love intellectual activities,” he said.

    Reeling out the prizes to be won, Mrs Abiola Inawo, the company’s Category Manager (Dairy), said the top three winners of the first stage examination, which comes up Saturday in 200 centres across the country, will get between N25,000, N20,000 and N15,000, while the teacher of the best candidate per state gets N15,000.

    Seventy-four candidates made up of the best per state (37 each from the junior secondary and senior secondary categories) will advance from the first to the second stage, which is scheduled to hold in four regional centres (Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Port Harcourt) on May 3.

    She added that the best 10 in each category of the second stage will be invited to a colourful awards programme to hold at the Le Meridien Hotel, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital on June 26. This is a change from the usual venue, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, which has hosted the competition for the past one decade.

    The top three winners in the junior category will get N250,000, N200,000 and N150,000; while those in the senior category win N300,000, N250,000 and N200,000 as well as trophies, medals, plaques, computers, printers, mathematics textbooks and others for their schools.

    The remaining14 finalists will be rewarded with N15,000 consolation prizes, while the seven in the senior category will also get laptops.

    Teachers of the top three winners will get between N50,000 and N20,000, while others get N15,000. Winners of both categories and their teachers will also be treated to an all-expense paid trip outside Nigeria.

    Director-General of the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja, Prof Adewale Solarin, also said rich reward await winners from both categories including: a N3 million senior secondary education scholarship at the NMC International Academy, Abuja, for the best candidate in the junior category attending a public school; and a university scholarship for the best candidate in the senior category who wishes to study mathematics; among other pecks.

    automatic invitation to the Pan-Atlantic Mathematics Olympiad camp which would be used to select candidates who will represent Nigeria in the competition; training for the teachers of the top three winners; and 100 rubrics and mathematics text books as well as 10 Maths Olympiad textbooks for the best 10 schools in the competition.

     

  • Bad maths or bad faith?

    Bad maths or bad faith?

    After last week’s intimation of another cycle of subsidy removal by President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerians ought to be forgiven for daring to invoke divine judgment on those determined to afflict them a second time. After the lockdown of the economy in January 2012 during which the polity was rocked to its foundations, it would seem a bit too much that government would seek to re-open the fuel subsidy matter so soon – at least not with the wounds still fresh.

    But here we are – some fourteen months after – with the President making a fresh bid to take out the “remaining” subsidy. Of course, it didn’t come with new or compelling arguments being advanced; rather it was a case of being stuck with the same old lines of unreason and obduracy. The presidential edict was unambiguously declarative: “we cannot continue to waste resources meant for a greater number of Nigerians to subsidise the affluent middle class, who are the main beneficiaries of fuel subsidy”.

    I suppose it is late in the day to embark on the task of re-educating the administration on its fixation with the so-called subsidy on petrol. Or to the fact that it has barely thought through an agreeable solution to the fuel subsidy conundrum in the whole of the last 14 months. Or even to remind it of its failure to deliver basic services to the Nigerian people all of which have rendered the ordinary citizen endangered.

    I guess it’s alright for the overfed, corrupt and the utterly inept governing elite to pick on the vanishing middle class as practice target after laundering billions of naira among its friends in the subsidy scam. Fair game isn’t it?

    What this goes to show however is that the nation still has a long way to go to resolve the fuel-supply riddle. If it seems any indication, Nigeria Labour Congress’ rejection of the planned hike in petrol price and government’s insistence on being tragically beholden to the subsidy removal idea would seem to point at the battle ahead.

    I need to be clear in my views about the subsidy. It is bad for the economy; I verily believe it is – in the long run. But the long run is not here, yet! I will argue that the pump price of petrol, to the extent that it is not cost-reflective, is ultimately injurious to the economy. I must say that one of the difficult tasks I have had is convincing my friends that the current price of N97 per litre is actually below cost price – using the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)’s reference landing cost of N131.10. And this cost is even exclusive of the distribution costs. Such has been the touchy nature of the subsidy mathematics that not many would even agree with the figures despite their being verifiable. I have since given up attempting to convince anyone on how perverse the current regime of subsidy is.

    But then, the point about the subsidy regime is that it is the effect, not the cause of the problem. It is the by-product of the political economy of abdication, the strange political economy under which an oil producing nation would export raw crude while importing its refined products wholesale. As for the sustainability of the annual payout drawn from the treasury – nearly a trillion naira by current estimates – I am yet to see anyone contest the fact that the expenditure is wasteful, barely supportable but definitely outrageous. That is one leg of the equation that Labour and other stakeholder groups should chew upon before they set out to the bargaining table.

    However, the obverse side of the fuel import mathematics is worse –treasonable! Has anyone taken stock of the amount of foreign exchange expended on the annual bazaar of wholesale fuel importation? I mean the direct cost of procuring forex; the innumerable indirect charges to the exchequer as well as the countless unrealisable benefits along the value chain?

    What about the pressures on the forex market and its direct impact on the macro-economy? Do the latter, reckoned in billions of dollars, not exceed the annual computation on subsidy? And what makes the latter any more ‘sustainable’ than the former?

    It must be said that the government’s partial but bad mathematics (and economics) is only a part; its bad faith has become increasingly apparent. As must be obvious now, the federal government does not seem to be interested in building any refineries now or in the near future. What the reports about lack of activities at the sites of the three proposed Greenfield Refineries suggest is that the federal government merely sold the nation a dummy on the issue of the refineries. At this time, it seems more concerned with cornering more of the gravy from subsidy as against addressing fundamental problems.

    Don’t ask me whether the billions earmarked for the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the four refineries will turn around anything; only the fortunes of the contractors at the corridors of power gets turned around in these parts!

    I have heard some say that it will be foolhardy for the Jonathan administration to tinker with fuel price at this time. They cite the insecurity situation: the scourge of kidnapping in the South; the resurgence of internecine conflicts in the Plateau; the terror of the Boko Haram in the North-east and parts of the North-central. Of course, there is the youth unemployment said to be hitting record high levels of 50 percent.

    Such fears obviously say little of the administration’s capacity to do mischief.

    Will President Jonathan do it? I don’t think the issue is ‘if’ but ‘when’. Sure, the nation will have enough of SURE-P and other extra-constitutional contraptions to douse public anger whenever it happens – minus the refineries – the surest and next best thing to fixing the problem. And if it seems improbable that an outsized government will need another bureaucracy to deliver on the services that other agencies already undertake, you can put it to the citizens hunger for action. It’s all part of the tragedy of the unpatriotic governing elite, mired in the cesspit of its own greed, and too blind to see beyond its nose.