Educators and students share their experiences, learnings and feelings about the Techint Group's educational programs—and about the approach these programs are taking to math in particular.
The view of the educators
Mauro Rinaldi, Math teacher at Technical School No. 6 in San Nicolás, Argentina. Participant of the Roberto Rocca Technical Gene program.
Each of the training courses we get as part of the program is much appreciated, as they give us the tools to help us be effective in the classroom and capture children’s interest through activities that really challenge them."
Virginia Beliz, Math teacher, head of the Math Foundation department at Technical School No. 2 in Ramallo, Argentina. Participant of the Roberto Rocca Technical Gene program.
“My main reason for taking part in the Math project was to see how to improve both teaching and learning processes in the classroom with a view to raising the standard of the qualifications achieved by children graduating as technicians from this school.
It’s crucial to understand math from another perspective and to strengthen mathematical skills and thinking to develop different strategies, so that students can solve problems and get ahead in any situation they have to undergo, for their professional training as much as for their work experience.
In general, the activities proposed by the program are distinctive as they use different methodologies and processes to encourage student learning. Children become more interested and more active in their participation as they search for different strategies to solve problems that they then present and debate.
We are seeing that students are achieving better results during the process and are developing the ability to understand and construct their own learning path based on the resolution of different problems."
"We are currently going through the third year of the program and can see that the children are gradually incorporating this new form of reasoning into their thinking."
Yamila Siffo, Math teacher at the Fray Luis Beltrán Institute of San Nicolás, Argentina. Participant of the Roberto Rocca Technical Gene program.
“What motivated me to participate in this project is that it enables us to connect with teachers from other schools, in addition to being in contact with professionals who not only provide us with a different type of training but have also presented us with proposals that the kids love.
Since I started doing these training courses, my way of understanding math has changed radically. By shifting my perception of math through these types of different activities, I can transmit the same thing to my students.
It’s really beautiful to see how students can work more enthusiastically, how they learn to argue and express their ideas better. Today, the kids exchange points of view, and debate ideas; it’s quite a different classroom to traditional ones."
Víctor Gutiérrez Barradas, teacher and member of the mathematics academy at the Conalep Veracruz I Campus, Mexico. Participant of Roberto Rocca Technical Gene program.
“I have always commented that mathematics is exact but it is not flat, there are many paths to reach the solution of a problem. For this reason, all the thoughts discussed in the training and material banks of Roberto Rocca Technical Gene program help us to redefine mathematics and focus on it from another point of view, supporting the educational task within the classroom.”
Laya Suaid, Biology teacher at the No. 26 “Mariano Moreno” school, in Ramallo, Argentina. Roberto Rocca After School leader.
“We started implementing the PREST methodology in 2019. I remember that I completed that year with a great sense of satisfaction about the achievements made both by the children and me. We did it as a team, inside the classroom, all together.
The PREST methodology produced a significant leap in children's learning: they lost their fear of math and were able to eliminate their original attitudes and perceptions of ‘I don't like it’, ‘I can't do this’, or ‘I'm no good at math’."
Today, children can self-regulate in terms of how they use materials, and they enjoy greater autonomy when it comes to managing their time, and being able to ask when they don’t remember something.
Although COVID-19 opened a new horizon for us with its virtual online experiences, as well as how to manage autonomy and many new learnings we didn’t have before, we realized that the presence of a leader, someone to guide the children, is really necessary. This is why at the Roberto Rocca After School, we created math remediation modules to reinforce the basic concepts that a child needs to have in order to tackle the more complex modules.”
The view of the students
Luna Castro Zapata is 14 years old, and a 3rd grade student at the General. Félix U. Gómez school Sec. No. 114 in Mexico. She’s been attending the Roberto Rocca After School program since 2nd grade.
What I like most about the program is the way it’s oriented to developing projects that can help the community."
Right now is the time when we’re not working, so we can spend more time learning. We have some free time, and we have to take advantage of it. My sister is two years younger than me, and she’s also joined the program.”
Sergio Hernández Pérez is 14 years old, and a 3rd grade student at the General. Félix U. Gómez school Sec. No. 114 in Mexico. He’s been at the Roberto Rocca After School program since he joined in 1st grade.
I found it very interesting that a high school of this prestige would make such a contribution to help secondary schools. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and so I joined the program in 1st grade."
Samanta Elizondo García is a 3rd grade student at the No. 1 “Lic. Benito Juárez” school in Mexico.
“For me the program is all about friendships, studying, a lot of concentration and fun.
I remember a project we did to help our community. We were presented with the problem: the lack of water in our community. Then they showed us different animals native to Mexico and Colombia and we had to select one. We chose the horned lizard, which collects water through its spines. We analyzed its characteristics (skin, scales, spines, the way it moves), then we did 14 sketches, and finally went on to make the prototype. This involved taking a PVC pipe that was 4 inches wide, cutting it to make channels inside, adding these ‘thorns’ we made using plastic bottles which we glued together, then we built a carbon-sand filter and put it inside.
We started testing and true to expectations, it did its job of collecting water and cleaning it! I’m very fond of this project as we spent a lot of time on it and finally we exhibited it at an Open Project Show.
With After School I feel better prepared for what’s to come, I feel very confident."
Simón Salamanca González is a 3rd grade student at the No. 2 “León Guzmán”, school in Mexico.
“This program fully met all my expectations: they teach us things really well, you can come and have fun, learn and make new friends.
My parents are happy about me coming here as I have more opportunities to study than they had.”