Mathematics

Changes in schools

 This text book is part of the reform of the school curriculum in Rwanda, that is; changes in what is taught in schools and how it is taught. It is hoped that this will make what you learn in school useful to you when you leave school. In the past, the main thing in schooling has been to learn knowledge, that is, facts and ideas about each subject. Now, the main idea is that you should be able to use the knowledge you learn by developing skills or competencies. These skills or competencies include the ability to think for yourself, to be able to communicate with others and explain what you have learnt, and to be creative, that is; developing your own ideas not just following those of the teacher and the text book. You should also be able to find out information and ideas for yourself rather than just relying on what the teacher or text book tells you.

Activity-based learning 

This book has a variety of activities for you to do as well as information for you to read. These activities present you with materials or things to do which will help you to learn things and find out things for yourself. You already have a lot of knowledge and ideas based on the experiences you have had and your life within your own community. Some of the activities, therefore, ask you to think about the knowledge and ideas you already have.

In using this book, therefore, it is essential that you do all the activities. You will not learn properly unless you do these activities. They are the most important part of the book. In some ways, this makes learning more of a challenge. It is more difficult to think for yourself than to copy what the teacher tells you but if you take up this challenge, you will become a better person and become more successful in your life.

Group work 

You can learn a lot from other people in your class. If you have a problem, it can often be solved by discussing it with others. Many of the activities in this book, therefore, involve discussion in groups or pairs. Your teacher will help organise these groups and may arrange the classroom so that you are always sitting in groups facing each other. You cannot discuss properly unless you are facing each other.

Research

 One of the objectives of the competence based curriculum is to help you find things out for yourself. Some activities, therefore, ask you to do research using books in the library, the internet if your school has this, or other sources such as newspapers and magazines. This means that you will develop the skills of learning for yourself when you leave school. Your teacher will help you if your school does not have a good library or internet.

Icons 

To guide you, each activity in the book is marked by a symbol or icon to show you what kind of activity it is. The icons are as follows: