Recreational Explorations

The intent of this program is to expose children to the beauty of Mathematics, develop in them an appreciation for Mathematical pattern and, in the process, sharpen their Mathematical thinking skills. I hope my students develop a passion for the subject and become life-long learners.

Each week, a curated problem set is presented to the children. This set contains an assortment of puzzles covering a range of Mathematical topics at varied levels of difficulty. Children are expected to think about these puzzles independently and combine whatever Mathematical knowledge they have with their powers of intuition, reason and creativity. They are then expected to discuss their approaches in small groups and try and agree about the solutions after having questioned and challenged each other. We then explore the problem set together as a class, and find satisfaction in knowing that the right answer can often be arrived at via different routes - some more efficient than others, some tedious, some more elegant.

I hope that this process invites students to think, invent, listen, reason, discover and solve. The goal for me is to get my students to do all this willingly, with excitement, curiosity and no fear. Learning, then, will hopefully be deep, joyful and meaningful – and the study of Mathematics a life-long recreational pursuit.

I presently have batches that cater to four different levels, with kids ranging from 10 to 17 years of age. The material presented at each of these levels has a graded increase in difficulty. I do my best to assign children to a batch that is appropriate to their level of comfort.

Do take a look at a few sample recreational puzzle sets below.