Journal of Centre for Pedagogical Studies in Mathematics, Vol.

31, 2011

A NEW LOOK TO MATHEMATICS EDUCATION Narayan Ch Ghosh Modern age has made the world a global village where mobility of men is a prime phenomena. So mobility of person having technical knowledge throughout the globe emerged the question of competence that motivates for standardisation of education. Emphasise on standardisation of engineering education has been considered more important as it is straight way professional course. Consequence of which concept of an international body was floated. Washington Accord was the outcome of that, which was initiated in U.K. by the Engineering Council and the agreement took place on October 29, 1989. The Washington Accord is the parent agreement among engineering accrediting bodies in the signatory countries. It pertains to undergraduate engineering programs. Sydney Accord commenced in 2001 and recognises substantial equivalence in accreditation of qualifications in engineering technology normally of three years duration and Dublin Accord is an agreement for substantial equivalence in the accreditation of tertiary qualifications in technician engineering normally of two years duration. It commenced in 2002. All these are essentially a quality assurance process based on world best practice. Washington Accord, signed in 1989, is an international agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programs. It recognizes the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by those bodies and recommends that graduates of programs accredited by any of the signatory bodies be recognised by the other bodies as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering. In nut shell the following are the basic terms of agreements of Washington Accord. Accept that Accreditation procedures are comparable. Accept one anothers accredited degrees from the date of admission as a full member. Agree to identify and encourage implementation of best practise. Accept mutual monitoring. Accept that it applies to Accreditations in home jurisdictions only. Accept the need to encourage licensing and registration authorities to apply the Agreement. The original signatories of Washington Accord were Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States. In 2005 Japan was admitted as a full signatory, with Singapore admitted in 2006, Korea and Taiwan admitted in 2007 and Malaysia in 2009. Representatives from Australia and United States continue as Chairman and Secretariat of the Washington Accord. Now the signatories of Washington Accord are : Australian Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), Accreditation Board for Engineering Education of Korea (ABEEK), Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board for Engineers Canada (CEAB-EC), Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), ), Engineering Council UK (ECUK), Engineers Australia, Engineers Ireland (EI), Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan (IEET), Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES), Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ), Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education (JABEE), Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), and such bodies of Germany (ASIIN), India (AICTE), Russia (RAEE) and Sri Lanka (Engineers Sri Lanka) are the provisional members. In the year 1987 All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was set up in the year 1945 and Dr. Narayan Ch Ghosh is Professor in Mathematics having thirty six years teaching and research experience in India and abroad. Email : ghosnarayan@gmail.com, Mobile : 91 9831100325, 91 033 26803563

statutory status was given on 1987 by an Act of Parliament to coordinate development of technical education, promotion of quality improvement in relation to quantitative growth and maintenance of norms and standards. As a part of its programmes and activities, the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) was set up by the AICTE in September 1994, for the purpose of assessment of Quality and Accreditation of Technical Education programmes in India. In the mean time AICTE has become the member of the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and the year 2003 2004 was declared as the Quality Education Year by MHRD Government of India. AICTE has also constituted a Review Committee to review undergraduate education in engineering and technology in the country. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an autonomous body established by University Grants Commission of India to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in India in the year 1992 and in 1994 it is been given autonomous status. After taking into consideration the existing control of quality assessment and quality control and accreditation of higher education in USA, UK, Canada, Australia NAAC document was prepared to assesses and accredits institutions of higher learning and help them continuously upgrade quality. Mission, Goals and Achievements : The Washington Accord set the criteria, policies and procedures for accrediting engineering academic programs. Signatories of Washington Accord agreed to accept each others accreditation decisions and to publish statements certifying their intent to do so. Also they agreed to recognise substantial equivalence of their respective programs in terms of meeting academic requirements for engineering programs. They pledged to exchange information and conduct mutual monitoring, to observe each others accreditation visits, and to encourage best practices. Thus this accord promotes the effective mutual recognition of accredited engineering degree courses in each of the signatory countries. It means any engineering graduate from accredited programs in of signatory countries is automatically considered an engineering graduate in all other signatory countries. Conversely, graduates from non-accredited programs or graduates from non-member countries are not recognised by the Accord members. The other three agreements cover recognition of equivalence at the practising engineer level are seen to meet the benchmark standard. The oldest such agreement is the APEC Engineer agreement commenced in 1999. The Engineers Mobility Forum agreement commenced in 2001 and Engineering Technologist Mobility Forum agreement was signed in the year 2003. Philippine engineering graduates, therefore, are not considered engineers in the signatory countries of Washington Accord. Here it is essential to note that the Accord applies only to accredited programs, not to all programs within a member country. The Washington Accord provides admission of new members from its biennial general meeting. But if one become a member, he still have to accredit undergraduate engineering programs for their graduates to be considered equal to those in other countries. Also it is important to distinguish equivalency in under graduate education from licensing or passing professional exams. A licensed engineer from any of these countries may or may not be automatically recognised as licensed in another country. A separate exam requires before one can license in another country, however, one has to have recognised degree. Now, it is clear India being in the Accord is a prerequisite for Indian engineers getting licensed in another country. Job opportunity for skill forces are been increased in internal sphere. But now India is one of best human resource suppliers with high level skilled man power. Increased skilled man power utilisation in internal market due to inflow of jobs are been increased tremendously. To face tremendous pressure for taking measures against out sourcing George W. Bush openly asked American youths to learn mathematics like Indians. Later Barak Hussain Obama repeated same utterance in a meeting with American senators. Here, question arises : why Indian sectors are been chosen for out sourcing. Is it only for low labour value ? Is standard of out put been compromised ? Not discussing in detail, one may conclude saying it is fact that though value of labour may be one factor; but no compromise is done in respect of quality. If so, is Indian may be pleased for their standard of teaching and training programs ? Particularly, is mathematics teaching in India good; if not high ? Here lies the fallacy.

For strengthening ones logical concepts knowledge of mathematical reasoning is most essential, and historic outcome of Indian logical concepts, mostly based on mathematical culture, either it is formal or non formal; are the fundamental aspects of present level for which Indian may feel proud. Emphasised was given on logic in all culture of ancient India, so concepts of reasoning were been nurtured in the society with special care. People of modern India are inheriting it. Now the question is in globalise village how long Indian will be in front line with its tradition only, if not continuously improving its level of knowledge, procedure for transferring knowledge they posses and quickly acquiring most developed knowledge from others in scientific manner. This question is very much important when concept of standardisation of education has been considered most important through out the globe. India entered into the Washington Accord on 31 October 2007. The accredited engineering degrees of India approved by the AICTE accredited by the National Board of Accreditation now treated as per with the U.S. degrees as well as other engineering degrees from the countries that are a party to the Washington Accord. Present scenario of Mathematics Teaching Mathematics teaching in todays school is text book dominated, concerned primarily with the manipulation of symbols and, all too often, largely no connection with real world of learner. Endless repetition, meaningless memorisation, a never-ending series of worksheets or practice exercises and general lack of interest and understanding causing mathematics a reputation of fear, tear and trauma. Consequence of which children slowly are dissociating themselves with practice of mathematics, instead of associating with it like their toys, games etc. When folk mathematics was part of daily life in folk society, mathematics becomes a specialised one of formalised life. Thus instead of coping up dynamic changes in mathematics learning Indian children are becoming back bencher. Students of non-engineering subjects are pleased to give up mathematics. But now a days for higher studies in biological sciences need good mathematical knowledge. For studying Microbiology, Genetics mathematical knowledge is essential. Modern Medical Science rapidly becoming technology based, for which physician will feel necessity to have certain mathematical knowledge. With out having mathematical knowledge now learning the subjects like economics, geography is unimaginable. Mathematical based is necessary to learn linguistics. In stead of learning history as His Story D.D. Kowsambis contribution was to make study of history to Analytical Study of History. His mathematics based back ground helped him. Presently history becoming Mathematical History (one should not confuse the term Mathematical History with the term History of Mathematics). In view of the above stated facts for forward jumping immediate task of Indian educator and education planner is to look in to the issues related to not only joyful mathematics teaching and learning; but also scientific mathematics teaching methodology. If in scientific mathematics teaching methodology learners mathematics exercise have sound relation with his other subjects or topics then mathematics learning also will be joyful. In existing global scenario development and adoption of appropriate techniques for mathematics teaching and learning in India is an urgent task. Cave men used to select caves for their use. Perhaps that was the measuring concepts of human being of no vocal language; except body languages. Such measurement techniques i.e. concepts of form, magnitude and number is part of life from early period of men kind and with the progress of civilisation said knowledge has been diversified and concepts of quantifications have taken manifold character creating foundation of formal mathematics and now a days no man can think of with out use of mathematics. Modern studies of animal cognition have shown that these concepts are not unique to humans. Such concepts are parts of everyday life in hunter-gather societies. The oldest known mathematical object is the Lebombo bone, discovered in the Lebombo mountains of Swaziland on approximately 35,000 BC. Ishango bone, found near the Headwaters of the Nile river (north-eastern Congo) may be as much as 20,000 years old and consists of a series of tally marks carved in three columns running the length of the bone. Common interpretations are that the Ishango bone shows either the earliest known demonstration of sequences of prime numbers or a six month lunar calendar. There is evidence that woman used counting to keep track of their menstrual cycles : 28 to 30 scratches

on bone or stone, followed by a distinctive marker. Also prehistoric artefacts discovered in Africa and France, dated between 35,000 and 20,000 years old, suggest early attempts to quantify time. The staggering pace of life and the sweeping progress of science under the scientific and technological revolution compel shop-floor workers, experts and managerial personnel to keep abreast of contemporary scientific achievements; those fail will fall catastrophically behind and become a hindrance for further economic progress. Also it is common feature due to rapid technical progress many generations of technology succeed one another within the lifespan of one generation of people influencing speed of social changes and knowledge. In modern society, though mathematics is used in daily life; fears, tears trauma are part of common phenomena of mathematics teaching. On the other hand important and uses of mathematics are continuously increasing day to day. So it is urgent to search mathematics teaching methodology with out fears, tears trauma or at least minimising those with joyful mathematics teaching to build mathematical concepts based on sound logic and simple solution techniques, if possible, with visualising effects. This task is to be tackled carefully as it is a complex system with many constituents and cause as well as effect interconnected. It, in one hand, takes form and operates under the influence of external conditions and needs for intensifications of social production; on the other hand, the results of its operation exert a substantial effect on the development of related spheres of social activities, such as the economy, culture and science. Also no one can ignore that scientific and technological revolution (STR) is not only drastically changing science and technology, but also affecting very form and content of human life activities. As a result the mastering of new technology and innovations takes much less time. This confronts men with the main problem : how to correlate the intrinsically inert process of training with rapidly changing external conditions and correlation needs emphasised introduction of new techniques in mathematics teaching methodology. Need and multidimensional changing scenario concepts of Laboratory Based Mathematics Teaching has gaining ground and people are anxious for searching ways, modern concepts, technologies to develop education technology for mathematics teaching. In advance civilised society people are very much depending on technology and Society accustomed with the rate of advancement of science, engineering and technology is exponentially depending on mathematics as it is part of all those advancement. This growth rate of use and dependence creating momentum for searching better mathematics teaching methodology that leads to the ways for essentially stronger ground for Laboratory Based Mathematics Teaching. Nature was laboratory for cognition animal and cave men, but in changed society natural resources has been transformed to its new shapes and forms. Accordingly for mathematics teaching laboratory need be restructured accordingly. Fundamental needs of to-days learners : Need are not same of all section of learners. These can be categorised as follows : i. Need of babies or pre-primary entrants, ii. Need of primary school goers, iii. Need of secondary and higher secondary level students, iv. Need of under-graduates level students in general, v. Need of specialised under-graduates level students, vi. Need of post-graduates level students in general, vi. Need of specialised post-graduates level students, vii. Need of engineering students, viii. Need of commerce students, ix. Need of adult education planners in general, x. Need of illiterate workers in organised sectors. More such division may be considered according to the choice of educators. For laboratory based mathematics teaching laboratory need be set up according to the need of learners. What is mathematics laboratory ? Concept of mathematics laboratory need be cleared fast as there are two different ideas. One is, concept of mathematics laboratory is vac. According to them, besides pen and paper nothing is necessary for mathematics leaner and teacher. They say, mathematics is an exercise of brain with pen and paper only, any other aid for learning mathematics over rule importance of brain functioning mostly essential for mathematics learning. Opinion of second group is in favour of mathematics

laboratory; but their concept of mathematics laboratory is sophisticated. They forget, nature was the laboratory for cognition animal and cave men. Till now animal learns from nature, human in some of the societies in Andaman, in Brazil and in Australia counts with their natural language of limited numerals. The mathematics laboratory is a place, rich in manipulative materials, to which learner have ready access to handle them, perform mathematical experiments, play mathematical games, solve mathematical puzzles and become involved in other activities. An integral part of the mathematics laboratory is the manipulation of objects. Through manipulating concrete material, the learner is better able to bridge the gap between the real and the abstract world. The mathematics laboratory approach allows pupils to set up mathematical experiments for the purpose of discovering some mathematical principle, pattern or process. Even teachers can be a part of the process, group discussions and individual projects. Mathematics laboratory is activity-centred where learner is placed in problem solving situation and through self exploration and discovery, he or she provides a solution based on his or her experience, need and interests. Mathematics laboratory may be set up with easily available improvises from natural resource. Undoubtedly for standard mathematics laboratory improved sophisticated improvises are necessary. Which standard mathematics laboratory is needed for an institution that depends on the purpose of mathematics laboratory. What is the purpose of mathematics laboratory ? Identification of category of learner to be covered by mathematics laboratory is first step for setting up a mathematics laboratory. There after purposes of mathematics laboratory are : i. To provide readily accessible rich manipulative materials, ii. To develop physical involvement in order to add new ideas to learners their cognitive structure, iii. To make learners experience with real-world embodiments of mathematical ideas, iv. To emphasis on learning by doing, v. To provide learner with opportunities to discover and understand mathematical concepts through their active involvement in solving problems, vi. To make learner, especially children, to think, to look for patterns and ask questions, vii. To develop an attitude of enquiry. For an engineering student mathematics laboratory is most essential to visualised mathematics every where in his experiments. Instead of doing mathematical jugglery contribution of visualisation effects directly act for strengthening engineers confidence, necessary for an engineer to take challenge in his profession. Modern medical practitioner who are using medical technology not going into its logic upgrade their concepts, if they use those having certain mathematical knowledge and mathematics laboratory can provide such scope. For joyful mathematics teaching there is no alternative of mathematics laboratory. Conclusion For retaining Indias present position in global perspective up-gradation existing mathematics teaching practice is essential. Considering need of present society to compete upcoming nations such upgradation is most essential and for up-gradation diversification of teaching methodology, adoption of modern techniques as well as technology is to prime object, therefore Laboratory based mathematics teaching is now should considered as important as things necessary for our livelihood.