The concept of math has dreaded most of us in school, whether it was geometry, trignometry or calculations. However, now there is a unique programme, which is revolutionising the concept of maths, replacing your local tuition teacher with a fun-loving, concept-based DIY study programme for students across the globe.
The new programme will certainly increase the children's interest in maths and make their parents happy.
PiCirql, an online math-learning programme, helps students of grades 6-12 view maths from a different perspective. Based out of Singapore, Mridula Naresh and her husband Sudharsan Srinivasan, started Quanted last year. Talking about the 'monster' subject, Naresh told International Business Times, India: "Our aim at PiCirql is to bring math out of the abstract and connect it with real life...to make it exciting, challenging and relatable."
Their startup uses animations to make learning maths an interactive and interesting experience and showcases several concepts visually to students.
Maths is a problem
For years, maths has been a problematic subject for students, even for those who liked it initially. "It has often been observed that even children who like mathematics till around Grade 6 or 7 lose interest as they progress. Some of it has to do with math anxiety and the rest with lack of structure, practice and familiarity with the pre-requisite concepts. The self-paced programme enables learners to get great at math by making it less abstract and connecting it with real life," Mridula explained.
The content of the programme is designed and developed by a group of math experts with IIT/ Ivy League education.
The purpose is divided into three parts- get learners interested in math, get them to love it and eventually make them great at it!
PiCirql is delivered on a weekly basis to the students. The student has to demonstrate a certain level of mastery of the module before moving on to the next one. The whole learning experience is also developed as a 'game' to help students develop healthy competition within themselves.
Making maths entertaining
"The USP of the programme transcends curriculum. Our aim is to make math entertaining so that students are inspired to learn. We want to inspire math learners to understand and speak the language of math. Our national online math contest, called the Clash of Pi, has gained a great deal of popularity among students in a very short period of time and has become the pre-eminent math contest for students across the country," Mridula told IB Times, India.
Quanted, which has received angel-funding of close to $1 million from a group of investors based in Hong Kong, Singapore and the US, makes revenue through subscriptions. A student can register through payment-based subscription.
The school has 5,000 students currently registered on the programme not only from schools in India, but also from those in Singapore and the US. Talking about the future plans of the company, Naresh sai: "We're tying up with leading schools in India and around the world as an after-school programme to help students connect with math."
