NIEU-BETHESDA NEWS — It was an unusual sight, last weekend, to see a group of Grade 11’s from Union High in the streets of Nieu-Bethesda armed with calculators, theodolites and maths notebooks!
Three years ago, Ian and Katrin Alleman were concerned that their daughter, Lynn, was battling with Maths Formal. They approached engineer, Gustav Weich to assist her, but Lynn suggested that her entire grade be party to his wisdom - and the annual Nieu-Bethesda Math Camp was born!
At the time, Elrich Jantjies had only been teaching at Union for a few months, and he saw the value of such an excursion - which aims to bring the sometimes enigmatic language of Mathematics, into clarity.
Ian and Katrin accommodate and provide food for the Maths students for two days and three nights in Nieu-Bethesda - the perfect place to focus on this subject with few distractions!
Gustav Weich says that he aims to make the subject fun and informs the learners how Maths is current, valuable and real in our world. Over the weekend, learners took part in various practical exercises (including code breaking and a mathematical treasure hunt) as well as some lectures, and watched documentaries based on Maths.
While the group was busy learning how to measure angles on an antique theodolite (kindly lent by Leon van der Walt) in the church square, some of students had the following to say: Fezisa said that the weekend had been instrumental in teaching the class to work together on problems and that she had learned more about the characters in her class.
Asavela said that it had been fascinating to learn about the value of Maths in the real world, while Zama said that his eyes had been opened to the fact that Maths CAN be exciting. Annie added that she had found the camp useful in that she had learned where and how Maths can be applied in today’s society. Ross said that Ian and Katrin had been extremely generous and that the weekend had been well worth it. The group said that they had had a wonderful time “out in nature” and that it had been special visiting Nieu-Bethesda.
It is heartening that educational and informative workshops such as this are made a reality by enthusiasts such as Ian and Katrin, experts like Gustav Weich and exceptional teachers like Elrich Jantjies.
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