I read in a magazine I get called Saudi Aramco World about a math teacher in Bangladesh who leads math education in his country. The article states: "Since 2005, Muni Hasan has led Bangladesh's students in the International Mathematics Olympiad and is the leading creative force revitalizing the nation's approach to math education. He does this by using a network of community-building math festivals, daily newspaper columns, teacher training and new textbooks that emphasize exploration and questioning rather than rote memorization."
The newspaper column about math is a great idea. That can be done here or where you are. I noticed a science column in our local weekly. Smart idea.
I remember as a kid seeing textbooks in Germany that were paperback. They were paperback because the students had to buy them. Many textbooks in the U.S. are usually not as great inside as the cover leads you to believe so I am usually skeptical when a teacher puts them out on display at back to school night. Then again, they make a colorful display because the covers are usually beautiful photographs and images. We use a biology book here that weighs a lot and has a beautiful photograph of a grizzly bear on the cover but inside is disappointment. No lists of great experiments to do at home or at school, but there is an emphasis on hundreds of vocabulary words that bog down and kill interest in the subject. I remember a great Algebra book I had in 8th grade. It was unique enough to remember. It contained "Peanuts" cartoons and also M.C. Escher drawings. My teacher made us love math and the book was fun to look at. Out teacher gave us daily puzzles to solve and it was fun.
Who wouldn't want to go to a community building math festival? Hurrah for Munir Hasan! He says: I have always dreamed of turning my country into a nation of world-class, advanced mathematicians and scientists."
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