A Nigerian lecturer has revealed the key to unlocking the gates of understanding Mathematics by students.
The lecturer named Dr. Ishola Salami, who lectures at the Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Ibadan, has reportedly invented Hip-Hop songs that can solve Mathematical questions.
This according to Dr. Ishola will improve the academic performance of students.
Salami, whose primary interest is in early childhood education, stated that the hip-hop song is aimed at enhancing pupils’ knowledge in the subject at the primary school level.
In his view, children under-perform when it comes to Mathematics because the learning tools adopted to enhance their knowledge was not friendly.
He said, “Someone who can solve simple mathematics problems can quickly reflect and solve societal problems.”
“Learning Mathematics has always been a serious challenge for many learners starting from primary school level across the world. One of the reasons for this is the nature of the subject which is rule-governed and abstract. To do well in mathematics, one has to remember a lot of rules and procedures.
“Past efforts to make the subject learning-friendly focused largely on preparation of effective teachers and methods of teaching. Songs have also been used as instructional strategies to teach mathematics but there is dearth of information on efforts targeting child-friendly music to teach mathematics. It was discovered that one of the music types children love to listen to is hip hop music. This is because of the beats, rhythm and the danceable melody it has.
“It was also discovered that when children love a given music, they tend to remember all the lyrics. So, if Mathematics principles, formulae and ideas can be put into a child-friendly music like hip hop, this should enhance the learning of the subject. It is against this background that hip hop music on primary mathematics was written and composed. We are still hoping that government in the South-West would see this invention and embrace it for adoption in the primary school level. The song incorporate the curriculum at the primary basic level,” he said
