The hall of Bellingen Public was packed this afternoon with hundreds of students from schools all over the shire who came to be dazzled and inspired by maths rock star Eddie Woo.
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As a teacher at Sydney’s Cherrybrook High School, Eddie Woo began posting videos of his mathematics classes on YouTube in 2012 in order to help a student who was missing school due to cancer.
His engaging, dynamic and highly interactive style proved enormously popular, and “Wootube” now has almost half a million subscribers and the videos have been viewed by more than 20 million people worldwide.
This year he was named Australia’s Local Hero at the Australia Day awards, and his teaching load at Cherrybrook has been scaled back so that he can travel the state inspiring students and teachers in his role as Leader of Mathematics Growth.
He came up with the title himself, after rejecting suggestions such as ‘consultant’ and ‘curriculum support officer’.
“The whole idea of mathematics growth is that I want to grow teachers’ confidence in helping students learn mathematics, and I want to grow students’ concepts of what mathematics is, and I want to grow society’s view of what mathematics is, which unfortunately is quite negative,” Eddie said.
“Most people endure mathematics and I want them to feel positive about it. So that’s what the role is, it’s ambassadorial.”
Katharine Sutherland, principal of Orama Public School and a keen follower of Eddie on social media, invited him here on behalf of the Bellinger Dorrigo Learning Community.
“When I heard his role had changed in 2017, I said I want you to come to the Mid North Coast. Then when he got Local Hero his schedule became quite crowded but I was determined to get him up here,” she said.
Eddie’s busy schedule meant the two sessions planned for students in years 9-11 and years 5-8 had to be combined into one, so the doors of Bellingen Public School Hall were thrown wide and the seating spilled to the covered area outside.
Fortunately he could still be clearly seen and heard as he walked everyone through a fascinating, interactive 45-minute answer to this question: what would you reply if an alien asked you what mathematics was?
Eddie argued that contrary to most people’s conceptions, maths is really about play, exploration and teamwork, demonstrating his points with lively examples and thought-provoking games.
One of his key messages was that students should not tell themselves they are no good at maths if they feel lost when trying to understand it, “because by definition, to be an explorer is to be lost”.
At a later teacher/community session, Eddie discussed mathematical curiosity, creativity and openness.
“We've kept students so busy following patterns we show them that they haven't spent time finding or forming patterns on their own,” he said.
Eddie’s new book Woo’s Wonderful World of Maths sets out to show that maths is for everyone and is everywhere, from sunflowers, lightning and rainbows to the music on our iPods.