Entitled "Mathematical Magic & Craft: A fun way to develop Mathematical Thinking, Problem-Solving Skills and Creativity", the workshops (one in the morning and a repeat session in the afternoon) drew about 180 school teachers, parents and lecturers to Singapore Polytechnic’s Main Lecture Theatre 1 on Saturday, 2 November 2002. Ms Teoh Poh Yew, a Malaysian educator, was specially invited by the Association of Mathematics Educators (AME) and the Department of Math and Science (MS) at Singapore Polytechnic to conduct these workshops.Ms Teoh’s philosophy is that every child has the potential to be good in Math. Hence, it is a challenge for parents and educators to develop this potential in the children. One effective way is to adopt creative teaching methodology to stir the children’s interest and arouse their curiosity. The process should stimulate children’s thinking and problem-solving capabilities. By using magical tricks in her lessons, Ms Teoh has successfully intrigued and won the most reluctant students over - and she wasn't kidding.
The audience had the opportunity to experience her ‘magic touch’ during the workshop. Their participation constantly called for, they were asked and cajoled into standing, closing their eyes, counting, clapping, and even playing ‘Scissors, Paper, Stone’ – all these to demonstrate that learning Mathematics can be both fun and engaging. Her enthusiasm and passion for her subject turned out to be incredibly contagious.
One of the many tricks she shared was the "Calendar Trick". A volunteer was asked to box up any group of nine numbers on a calendar to form a 3-by-3 square without her seeing it. Ms Teoh then asked the volunteer for the first number in the square. She then challenged the audience to find the sum of these numbers before she could. Guess what? She was always way ahead of the crowd. The ‘trick’ turned out to be simply adding "8" to the first number to arrive at the middle number, before multiplying this number by "9" to get the sum of the numbers in the box.
Other tricks involved playing cards, burning paper and rubbing ash over her forearm to reveal the answer to a problem, making a ball roll up a slope, and many others. Ms Teoh interspersed the sessions with anecdotes of unmotivated students who were transformed by her enthusiasm and creative methods of teaching Math, leaving many teachers in the audience entertained and inspired to bring that touch of magic into their classrooms. The workshops were chaired by Dr Wong Khoon Yoong, President of AME and lecturer at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Mrs Low-Ee Huei Wuan, Vice-President of AME and lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic’s MS Department organised this event with the full support of her colleagues Mrs Gui-Huang Hong Ying, Mdm Noraini Bte Ithnin, Mr Tang Koon Huat and Mr Ong Ee Heng.