Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione
Viola Zangirolami
Antonella Enrietto
Gimmi Basilotta
Christian Castellano
Prof. Giorgio Ferrarese (Faculty of Mathematics – University of Turin), Prof.ssa Margherita Roggero (Faculty of Mathematics – University of Turin), Prof.ssa Cristina Sabena (Faculty of Primary Education Sciences – University of Turin), Maurizio Bertolini (SCT Centre)
Math Scare Boom humorously addresses the role that fear and other emotions play in learning mathematics, exploring how fear-related emotions hinder mathematical thinking.
Math Scare Boom is a performance-conference born within the Erasmus+ TIM – Theatre in Mathematics project, in which SCT Centre | TPE partnered with three European entities: University of Bergen (NO), the Polytechnic of Crete (GR), and the Asta theatre company (PT) to address the issue of math anxiety with primary and lower secondary school students. The dramaturgy, following the methodology of Social and Community Theatre, stems from interviews with young students from Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Greek schools. Their answers became a stimulus for the creative work of performers from the various countries involved in the project, who brought their experience with mathematics at school and in life to the process.
The protagonist of the performance is Viola, an adult who, like many, has known the fear of mathematics since she was a child, and has never abandoned it. Due to a strange misunderstanding, however, Viola, who is a physical education teacher, finds herself in the shoes of a mathematics teacher: the school principal herself imposes this role on her, communicating the decision through a loudspeaker. This circumstance leads her to recover distant memories: a classmate who was very good at mathematics, a letter to Mrs. Mathematics, exams on the multiplication tables in which there is always a number that never arrives… The memory of Ada, a sporty and fun aunt who was an unusual mathematics teacher for her, together with the guiding voice of the principal and the help of the audience, will finally allow Viola to discover that, to understand numbers and geometry, it is important to playfully explore the world from new perspectives: looking for mathematics in the real world, from the forms of a football pitch to the spiral of a seashell.
THE MAIN THEMES OF THE PERFORMANCE
Encouraging STEM education. STEM is the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Essentially, these disciplines seem to represent the gateway to the future of work today, indispensable for the education and professional fulfillment of future generations. Their integration with other disciplines and the active involvement of students through the performing arts can promote the understanding of STEM subjects and their application to real-world problems. Among STEM, mathematical competence is today considered one of the most important for social and personal self-realization, and mathematical skills are considered one of the priorities of educational cooperation in the EU (EACEA 2019).
Addressing “math anxiety”. Math Scare Boom humorously addresses the role that fear and other emotions play in learning mathematics, exploring how fear-related emotions hinder mathematical thinking. Indeed, numerous neuroscientific studies demonstrate how emotions play a very important role in school, affecting the quality of learning. In short, intelligence and learning function best when one is… happy! The teacher has a challenging task in this situation: their role must include a mediation of wellbeing in the teaching of complex things. Today there is much attention to the role of emotions in education. The relationship between students and mathematics is strained when some situations cause discomfort and lead to feeling incapable, making mistakes, not understanding or not knowing how to proceed. To motivate the study of mathematics, it is necessary to understand what happens to a student when facing a math task, teach them how to identify errors and implement strategies to avoid them, so that they do not become passive errors – the trivial ones that we repeat almost automatically, when we are under stress, as in the case of a test.
Inspiring girls to believe in themselves. The development of self in children up to the age of 13 is crucial for building the foundations of their adulthood. Adults capable of facing life’s difficulties, of applying alternative strategies for problem-solving. Adults with a solid foundation to prevent a sense of helplessness and frustration from being triggered at the first setback. It is therefore important, to support students: to sustain their positive emotions and promote the perception of self-efficacy, that is, the ability to feel capable of doing well; to help them experience success, especially in the early stages of learning, a time when thoughts about the self are under construction; to offer positive role models by encouraging them, especially in the face of mistakes.
Want to know more about Math Scare Boom? Are you interested in organizing a replica in your reality? Fill out the form and we will contact you as soon as possible.
Project Resources
Get information about Math Scare Boom
Fill out the form below
Fields marked with an asterisk * are mandatory
"*" indicates required fields
No results found.
No results found.
Nessun altro spettacolo presente.