British School students get math lessons from University of Cincinnati

Friday, 28 June 2013 06:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Lankan born Prof. Ana Gowribalan Vamadeva who teaches mathematics at the University of Cincinnati recently taught a class at the British School consisting of students from Years 10-13 initiated by Scholarships for USA Ltd. (www.scholarshipsforusa.com).

In a very interesting and interactive session, Prof. Vamadeva tied the mathematical concepts to current and relevant real world everyday applications. One of the examples Ana used was to connect an exponential decay function to the time needed for an athlete to safely pass a random drug test to check for banned steroids. He tried to convey to the students that mathematics was more than simplifying, factoring, solving, differentiating, and integrating. The beauty of mathematics can be appreciated if skills are taught in the context of applications. BS Head of Sixth Form Michael Wijesuriya said: “It was a privilege to welcome Prof. Ana Vamadeva. Prof. Ana is no stranger to the British School in Colombo. This was his third visit and he has always been able to inspire our students with the work that is done at the University of Cincinnati.” “It is not every day we have the opportunity to welcome a professor from a prestigious globally ranking university such as UC to teach our students. We are truly appreciative that Prof. Ana was willing to teach our student in mathematics and its relation to the real word. Feedback from staff and students only went to prove how productive and inspiring this session was. We hope this would go to strengthen our relationship with the university further and we look forward to Prof. Ana’s next visit to school.” BS Head of Mathematics Bala Balamurari said: “It is definitely difficult to strike a good balance in what content may be covered for the audience that was present, but Prof. Ana did have something for everyone. Even though some of the mathematics was more challenging, the students would have definitely benefitted from just the exposure to the new mathematics. We look forward to many more hands-on session in the future.” Scholarships for USA is credited with attracting UC to Sri Lanka in ‘07. UC, a global leader in education, had been recruiting South Asian students for many years but had never been keen on visiting Colombo before. SUSA has also brought forth 12 collaborations between US and Sri Lankan educational institutes (both in state and private sectors) making 2+2 transfers, faculty/student exchanges and joint research possible. UC currently has two of those running in Sri Lanka – one with the Institute of Chemistry and the other with SLIIT.