All you need is love … in maths: Hong Kong educators come up with formula to capture student interest in subject
- Baptist University lecturers say teaching methods have to keep up with the times, and best way is to infuse theories and numbers into everyday life
Lecturers from Hong Kong Baptist University have claimed they can capture students’ interest in their course by combining two subjects that some may consider equally complex and confounding – love and mathematics.
“People often associate maths with geeks or nerds but we’re here to tell you that with the right formula, you too can become popular,” maths expert Silian Wong Jing-kiu said, referring to how she teaches maths theories by using dating examples in real life.
Wong and colleague Mark Lau Shek-kwan from Baptist University’s department of mathematics run a project called Maths Romance that aims to advocate a subject some may consider as dull.
“For a lot of young students, their first thought when it comes to maths is that ‘it’s boring’ or ‘when am I ever going to use this in real life?’, but we want to prove to them that maths does not have to be dreadful,” Wong said.
For a lot of young students, their first thought when it comes to maths is … ‘when am I ever going to use this in real life?’
“It can be fun, and relating it to romance is the best way to catch everyone’s attention.”