Mathematics should be integrated with arts, sports, and language to make the subject more creative and aesthetic for school students which have traditionally been more “robotic” and “algorithmic”, according to the draft National Curriculum Framework (NCF).
The draft also emphasises taking measures to address the fear of mathematics among students and to break prevalent social beliefs that girls are not adept at maths and upper caste have better computational abilities.
The NCF, which is being drafted according to the new National Education Policy (NEP), also notes there are two major aspects that cause fear of mathematics — the nature of the subject and how it is being taught, and how it is being perceived in society.
According to education ministry officials, the draft which is final stages will be put in the public domain soon for feedback from stakeholders and the new system will be implemented from the 2024 academic session. The NCF was last revised in 2005.
“Prevalent social attitudes see girls as incapable of mathematics or association of formal computational abilities with the upper castes. Such social discriminations also cause fear and anxiety in students. We need to break these beliefs that exist in society,” it reads.
“We must rethink the approach of teaching where students see mathematics as a part of their life, enjoy maths with a greater focus on reasoning and creative problem-solving. Also, at the same time we need to work with society to understand the objective of education and some of the beliefs that cause harm to learn of students,” it adds.
The draft prepared by the national steering committee, headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, suggests that an interdisciplinary approach offers students to expand beyond one subject domain by allowing them to tackle problems that do not fit exactly into one subject. It also changes how students learn by asking them to synthesise multiple perspectives, instead of driving their thoughts unidirectionally based on the understanding of one discipline.
Noting that arts and mathematics are linked through several concepts, the panel has suggested using rangoli patterns, origami, weaving, embroidery, recognising geometry in the architecture of monuments, among other ideas.
“Teaching mathematics through sports could be fun for most of the students who really struggle in understanding the concepts in maths. Through sports concepts related to measurement and mensuration could be easily taught and related unit conversions can be discussed simultaneously,” the draft reads.
The panel has also suggested assessment reforms for the subject.
“Tasks for problem-solving, MCQs, data handling and analysis, investigative projects, math lab activities, models, research projects, peer assessment, presentations including the use of ICT may help formative assessment in mathematics,” it says. The NCF has been revised four times – in 1975, 1988, 2000, and 2005. The new proposed revision will be a fifth of the framework.
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