‘Reg’l Math Camp in Maasin one of a kind,’ says MTAP-IC president

By Engr. Herman M. Lagon

“A ROUND-THE-clock carousel of math activities like no other, the Regional Math in Maasin is something one of a kind.”

Thus said Dr. Alona Belarga, president of the Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines-Iloilo Chapter (MTAP-IC)—organizer of the Regional Math Camp 2011 held at the Maasin Central Elementary School over the weekend, February 5-6, 2011.



“With all the ten groups powered by math mentors coming from the Islands of Negros, Guimaras, and Panay, the math activities were indeed exciting, fun, and brain twisting as expected. No one was left behind, all did their share and managed to produce excellent performances and outputs from 12 noon of Saturday to 12 noon of Sunday straight. This is a great learning, experienced by the math teachers, that surely can be taught down to their own schools and students, making math more fun and relevant.”



To note, the Regional Math Camp was conceptualized to gather the pre-service and in-service secondary math teachers in Region VI in an attempt to “let them learn different alternative math activities through games, and foster a sense of community among fellow math mentors.”

The said activity was supported through a memorandum by the Department of Education under the theme: “Enhancing Teaching Strategies through Math Camp.”

Some of the set activities were Stargazing, Math Dynamics, Skill O ‘Rama, IT, Mathdayaw, Group Presentations, Mathtukib, Math Trail, Film Showing, and Math Games. The 10 teams amassed points from the scores of activities to compete for the overall championship. Prizes like bags, certificates, and school supplies were given to the winners.

MTAP-IC officers for the year 2011 were also inducted by DepEd Region VI Program Supervisor II for Secondary Math Mr. Jerry Oquendo Sunday morning. They were Dr. Alona Belarga (president), Engr. Sergio Paspe (vice president), Prof. Rosemarie Galvez (secretary), Prof. Ma. Aries Pastolero (Treasurer), Dr. Alex Facinabao (Auditor), and members of the Board of Directors: Dr. Georgia Demavibas, Engr. Nimfa Sotomil, Engr. Herman Lagon, Dr. Wilhelm Cerbo, Prof. Jubette Lee, Prof. Catalina Reales, Prof. Alfonso Marquelencia, Prof. Alex Jaruda, and Prof. Mario Banavo who is also the overall organizer of the Camp.

Math Dynamics

One of the activities conducted during the 2011 Math Camp is the Math Dynamics, which was comprised of Mathematicomics, Starry starry math, and Building a tower.
Mathematicomics is the comics making spiced up with Math. Of course, the integration of mathematical content is of prime importance. It was expected that the relationship of the volumes of the cone, cylinder and pyramid will be touched in the conversation of the characters.

In Starry starry math, star polygons were constructed by using yarn threads. Surprisingly, the participants also had a great time in constructing human star polygons. The winning group constructed a [10, 4] star polygon. Ten participants joined to form the figure. Each person holds the hand of the person who is 4 persons away from him/her. Towards the end of the activity, it was clarified that star polygons could be used to teach central angles, intercepted arcs, and inscribed angles. All these topics could be covered with a touch of geography and art. After all, star polygons could be seen in various flags and works of art.