Math and Science Fair

There was a math and science fair at the elementary school in Carmen Pampa this Wednesday. Juan Velasco and I wandered over to see what was going on, and we were happy to see all of the young ones doing presentations about what they have been learning. Most impressive to me was a education student from the College, Irma Callisaya, who worked with the kindergarten students to teach math operations.

"The students learn best while playing, so I invented a game where they advance on a board by rolling a die if they answer a math question corectly," she explained. The questions were either simple operations attached to balls that they took out of a box, or story problems chosen from a basket. And these very young kids could do many of the problems!

Our education students are taught to use new knowledge about how young people learn to facilitate that process. And it was obvious on Wednesday that the education department is doing its job: Irma's game was creative and effective.


Photo: Irma and her game, with a girl from the community, Katherine Aliaga.