Working to revolutionise maths and science education

CHANTAL ABITBOL

ARMED with scissors and sheets of paper, Weizmann Institute of Science’s Dr Yossi Elran recently entered a classroom at Melbourne’s Yavneh College . His mission: to peak students’ curiosity about topology, the study of geometric figures.

The subject isn’t usually on the school’s mathematics curriculum, but that didn’t matter. Under his guidance, the students dutifully cut the paper into strips and joined the ends, later twisting and stretching the objects to study its spatial properties.

At the end of the session, one student exclaimed, almost surprised: “We did math and it was fun”.

It may be a slightly different approach to teaching maths. But according to Israeli experts at the Rehovot-based institute, it is part of an exciting new model aimed at engaging students — and it could be on its way to Australia.

In the last two weeks, Eran, who serves as Weizmann’s director of distant learning and web-based science and math activities, has been touring Jewish schools in Melbourne and Sydney to introduce some of the institute’s teaching strategies in maths and sciences.

“Math has got bad PR. We’re trying to change that,” Elran told The AJN. “I’m trying to show some aspects of maths that are fun and teach children to lose their fear.”

Weizmann is considered to be one of the world’s top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions in natural and exact sciences. Two years ago, an Australian branch was established to raise the group’s profile and bring some of its initiatives to Australia.

The institute already has a number of international projects running — including Math-By-Mail, a science summer camp and an annual safecracking tournament. Last year, a delegation from Melbourne’s Mount Scopus Memorial College travelled to Israel to nab second place in the competition.

But training isn’t just for students. The institute also holds sessions for teachers to keep them up to date with the latest science developments.

“We think there is a real contribution Weizmann can make to science and math education in Australia and, ultimately in the long term, to Australian research,” said Weizmaan Australia chairman Stephen Chipkin. “But it starts with schooling. It’s about challenging individual students who have an interest.”

At the moment, Weizmann is looking to get more Jewish schools active in its programs.

But Chipkin said that’s just the beginning.

“We’d like to think Weizmann has a contribution to make beyond the Jewish schools. Scientific research should not be linked to any type of religious confines,” he said.