ABOUT US
The Global Teacher Empowerment Network (GTEN) is the outreach arm of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment Centre (AIMSSEC) extending around the world through the Global Teacher Empowerment Workshops, the AIMING HIGH Teacher Network and App. GTEN provides a community and free lesson resources and support for teachers along with workshops in Spanish in partnership with EduCaixa, and WhatsApp groups for GTEN participants and AIMSSEC alumni.
The annual AIMSSEC Global Maths & Science Lesson (GMSL), involving as many as 50,000 participants, has included topics such as DNA; Maths and Science in Sport; Fractals; Health Statistics; Women in Science; Learning through Games.
AIMSSEC’s Daily Maths Starter (DMS) on Facebook, together with the weekly broadcast of the Happy Maths Hour (HMH), has a large following of teachers, parents and home educators. Once a month AIMSSEC broadcasts the Global Teacher Empowerment Network (GTEN) workshops for primary and secondary teachers. The AIMSSEC You Tube Channel has recordings of HMH and GTEN broadcasts and also short videos for use in lessons, specialising in activity/inquiry-based learning and making manipulatives from junk, visit youtube channel.
The UK Charity Mathematics Education To Empower Africa (METEA) raises funds for AIMSSEC and other projects. Although METEA is not officially linked to AIMSSEC, all the trustees have close connections with AIMSSEC.
ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
DAILY CHALLENGES AND LESSON STARTERS
Every day in 2021 a different challenge was published on the AIMSSEC Facebook page with links to lesson resources on the AIMING HIGH Network. Visit facebook page
Here are just a few from the 365 daily challenges:
MONTHLY GTEN WORKSHOPS FOR TEACHERS
The GTEN monthly workshops for primary and secondary teachers to learn together are presented by Toni Beardon and Caroline Ainslie with different guest presenters
LEARNING SPIRAL
Each GTEN teacher workshop tracks a mathematical theme, following Bruner’s Theory of spiral learning pathways, from early childhood to school leaving age, as key concepts are presented repeatedly throughout the school curriculum. Activities are introduced to help children understand concepts, as they meet them repeatedly at different levels of complexity and in different applications. The experience makes teachers more aware of connections within the subject, gives them a deeper understanding of the development and applications of mathematical ideas and where they lead, it helps them to support learners who are at different stages in their learning from other members of their age group, and it breaks down hierarchies amongst teachers.
ANNUAL GLOBAL MATHS AND SCIENCE LESSONS
In 2021 there were 9,561 registered participants in the Global Mathematics and Science Lesson on Learning Mathematics Through Games. They came from 19 countries: China, Egypt, India, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Poland, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, UK, USA.
Comments from teachers
At St. Anne’s, students from Year 5 till Year 10 were involved in this exciting activity. We all learnt to build our own fraction wall using the strips of different divisions. Then we played a game with the fraction wall and dice, seeing who has the bigger fraction. While the primary students were still using the fraction wall to play the first game, Year 8 students were encouraged to look at the next level which was to substitute a value in an algebraic fraction.
We all had lots of fun! Pam Fon Sing, Spain
The students were divided into four groups and we carried out four different activities. Order fractions obtained with dice, fraction dominoes, giant puzzle and fraction wall. The boys and girls enjoyed their second year participating in this event. Monica Garcia, Spain
Students played the fraction wall game, found equivalent fractions and explained the rules for determining whether two fractions are equivalent, compared relative sizes of fractions, solved algorithms, and even created and played algebraic fraction wall games using fraction walls created by repeatedly subdividing a common unit.
Samuel Ogalo, African Maths Initiative, Kenya
Setting a record for the largest number of participants in one lesson in a single day
We are trying to beat our own record for the largest number of participants in one lesson in a single day which was the lesson on DNA In 2015 with 47,796 participants from 18 countries: Australia, Brazil, Columbia, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, UK, USA and Uruguay.
PERSONNEL
Toni Beardon, Founder of NRICH (1996) and AIMSSEC (2003). Toni retired from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and has for 60 years worked in secondary school teaching, teacher training, school inspection, project development and management, and curriculum and learning resource development in the UK, USA and Africa. Toni works to empower teachers to provide better educational opportunities for children from disadvantaged communities, motivated by the Equity Principle that educational opportunities should be equal for all, to provide an escape from the poverty trap.
Caroline Ainslie, Founder of Bubbly Maths is an award-winning maths entertainer and a Guinness World Records title holder. She was an electronic engineer who, at the age of 42, decided to dedicate her life to spreading her love of mathematics and her purpose is now to engage children to love learning and enjoy maths. She will go to any lengths to achieve this, including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and attempting global world records. She has travelled extensively since 2005, engaging over 250,000 children around the world with her Bubbly Maths shows, workshops and other fun activities. Caroline has been working with Toni since 2015 with the Global Maths & Science Lesson which is now a GTEN (Global Teacher Empowerment Network) activity.
FINANCIAL REPORT
No payments are made for any of the work done by GTEN or for any of the associated expenses. Appeals are made for donations to the work of AIMSSEC. Voluntary contributions are made by participants in the annual Global Maths and Science Lesson.