Students’ Self – Exploration and Discovery through the Instrumentality of Mathematics Laboratory

By Daniel Oluyinka Bello & Adamu Maidugu

Abstract 

The conceptual understanding of Mathematics enables students to handle logical and  complex information throughout their lives. So, a Mathematics Laboratory set up in  any school should be a formal environment where Mathematical concepts are made  fully explicit and, the environment should be such that the user can create and explore  mathematics and learn on his own and make his/her own assessment. This opinion  paper is about students’ self-exploration and discovery through the use of mathematics  laboratory; it provides an opportunity for the students to discover through doing. In  many of the activities, students learn to deal with problems while doing concrete  activity, which lays down a base for more abstract thinking. The activities in the  mathematics laboratory should be appealing to a wide range of people, of different  ages and varying mathematical proficiency. The activities help students to visualize,  manipulate and reason. They provide opportunity to make conjectures and test them,  and to generalize observed patterns. The paper highlighted the importance of  Mathematics laboratory as a place to design new mathematical activities, and enjoy  mathematics through informal exploration. And hence, takes students’ knowledge  beyond the curriculum.

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