PROCEDURES AND STORE KEEPING

1) MATHEMATICS LABORATORY A store room is essential for storing large or rarely used equipments, materials and aids. Printed materials and equipments for daily use may be kept in the cupboards with glass slides to enable easy viewing. Trolleys for placing used equipments is important so that the equipments can either be reused or checked before storing. Different types of boards should be available in the maths room or software that can produce virtual boards for various uses should be available. The cupboards with glass slides may also be used for displaying 3-D objects and students work. Notice boards for information on mathematics, activities, lab usage time-table, etc. Log book to record the use of the lab and comments about the lab should be kept where it is easily accessible but safe. A first aid kit must be available in the lab. Lab rules must be displayed outside and inside the lab. All students must have a copy of the lab rules.

2) PRINTED MATERIALS The maths lab must be equipped with all school textbooks and other region mathematics text books, syllabi, curriculum specification for all standards, reference books, magazines, journals and other printed materials on mathematics and mathematics education.

3) MATHEMATICS CORNER A mathematics corner is a space for exhibiting items related to mathematics for the targeted group to view or try out hands-on. Hence a MC can be a notice board or table in a classroom or in the corridor of a school, a media house in the middle of campus, etc. which displays the item concerned. Today certain websites name themselves as maths corners and either provide information on mathematics or provide a site for discussion or for games and puzzles, etc.

The MC we are referring to in this unit are the non-virtual corners. MC may be used as information centres or exhibition centres or hands-on and minds-on activity centres or a combination of all.

4) MATHEMATICS GARDEN An area created outdoors with learning stations. Each learning station has an activity or a set of activities with specific objectives. A normal garden provides for informal learning, but a maths garden provides for non-formal learning. It a form of non-formal learning because it is an organized educational activity outside the formal system intended to serve identifiable learning objectives. The MG provides an outdoor arena for students to explore and apply mathematics concepts and skills. The MG is aimed at drawing students interest to learn mathematics. Objectives To reduce boredom and fear of learning mathematics. To instil interest in students to learn mathematics To provide opportunity for exploring and applying mathematics outdoors. To show the use of mathematics in the real world. Constructing a MATHS GARDEN Decide on an area in your school that is conducive to construct a MG. Decide on the number of learning stations. Decide on the activities at each learning station. Draw a plan. Prepare a budget and working paper. Obtain the budget and construct it. Operating the MG Prepare the activity sheets or booklet for each learning station activities. Ensure that the activities are in the form of a game, followed by discussion and conclusion. Decide how long each activity will take. Divide students into groups and give relevant instructions such as the length of time at each station, the activity sheets that have to be completed, etc. Plan their route through the station so that all stations have an appropriate number of students to carry out the activities conducively.