By Kiundu Waweru
Many pupils struggle to master the multiplication table, a prerequisite to understanding and solving basic arithmetic problems.
Multiplication table is the foundations on which other concepts like division are built and operations like fractions are conceptualised.
A former teacher Mr David Kimani of Juhudi Children’s Club, developed a more creative way of learning the table.
Together with Mr Christian John, a musician, he has produced Easy Times, a nine-track music album to help pupils’ master multiplication table.
Play And Music
"Children learn best through play and music. The songs that are available in English and Kiswahili introduce mathematics to children in a funky way," he says. The songs contain rhyming words that are easy for the children to master. "It’s a Monday morning we are going to school…two times one is two, I am looking for my shoe, two times two is four, shut the bathroom door, two times three is six, comb my hair like this…" goes one of the song.
While recording vocals and shooting the video, Kimani and John worked with over 600 children from Westlands Primary School, Green Angles Academy, Sharp Educational Centre, Loreto Convent Msongari and St Elizabeth Academy.
Kimani says that during his eight-year stint as a primary school teacher, he found getting children to master the table a difficult task.
Most Unpopular
"The methods used were the same ones employed when I was in school. Every exercise and mathematics textbook had a list of the tables at the back page and mathematics teachers were the most unpopular since they employed very hard and harsh tactics to get pupils to master the table," he says.
"I dreamt of a time when children would dance to exciting and enriching mathematics tunes in a language they understand and identify with, thus I committed myself to one day come up with better techniques to approach the task."
And it came to pass with the production of the easy times multiplication table, done in song featuring children.
Studies show that some of the perceptions of mathematics as a difficult subject develop early.
Kimani hopes teachers will readily adopt the concept, which apart from helping the child master this important art of multiplication, make their work easier and saves time.