Arlene Smith has been a maths teacher for about 40 years and one of the things she has come to know is that everyone is “a maths person” because everyone uses maths, whether they believe it or not.
Her teaching career began at Vessigny Secondary School when she was just out of UWI with a bachelor’s degree in maths and chemistry with a minor in physics.
“Maths should be fun. It should not be this hard. Why do we make students feel that it is an elitist subject? It is not. Everybody can do maths. It is how it is taught to them. Students learn differently. Some are slower than others. We have to make it attractive to them.
“If we make the maths real to students, I think we would have way better results. Instead of just succeeding at the exam, they will be able to understand and be able to apply it.”
For example, the opening and closing of a door is an instance of rotation; the electric slide, transformation; a rollercoaster, polynomial function; and shooting a basketball or water spraying from a fountain are examples of parabolic curves.
She said maths is about patterns, a type of thinking and solving problems, and people use it all the time without realising.
[caption id="attachment_928012" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Arlene Smith's I love Maths collection includes jewellery designs that include geometric curves and arithmetic operations. - PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]
“We have not taught our students to notice things and to wonder. We also don’t teach the language of maths. If you don’t speak it, how will you understand it?”
Smith, 64, told WMN maths is all around, in bridges and other constructions, but especially in nature. Her favourite quote is, “Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has created the universe,” by Galileo Galilei.
“The first time I read that it resonated with me, because it’s so true.”
For example, the Fibonacci sequence – a sequence of numbers and a corresponding ratio – can be found in patterns in nature such as nautilus shells, pineapples, and hurricanes.
Wherever she looks, she sees geometric patterns and shapes. Just as she sees mathematics in all its beauty, she wants to help students to do the same, seeing patterns and, from that, making generalisations.
So she began making earrings, wall art, trinket boxes, fridge magnets, and games as a hobby.
Smith has a creative side to her, as did her mother, who was into craft, and other family members who are artists and musicians. She said she was always doodling, connecting lines and drawing shapes which turned into ideas for earrings and other designs.
She explained that her cousin, Whitney Dwarika, is an artist. She and her husband, Danny Dwarika, are engineers who love woodwork and own the company Onedar Woodwork.
Since she always preferred natural materials and did not have time to learn woodwork, a little over a year ago she asked if they would be willing to take some of her ideas and make them a reality – they were
