120 children of UMPSA staff participated in Exploring Mathematics Programme

PEKAN, 21 December 2023 - A total of 120 participants consisting of the children of Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) staff participated in the Exploring Mathematics Programme held at both campuses for four sessions starting last Monday.

The President of the UMPSA Staff Welfare and Wellbeing Association (Sejahtera), Ts.  Dr. Muhamed Nafis Osman Zahid said this programme was first held in collaboration with the UMPSA Welfare and Wellbeing Association (Sejahtera) and Centre for Mathematical Sciences (PSM) to improve the performance of mathematics in young children and foster their interest in mathematics through exciting activities.

“I did not expect for this programme to receive an overwhelming response among the staff.

“At this early stage, we limit participation to 120 people for four sessions based on the participants’ age and staff locations at the two UMPSA campuses in Pekan and Gambang.

“The participation is free for members of UMPSA Sejahtera while non-members are charged a fee of RM20 per participant,” he said.

He added that the programme, which began as early as 8:50 am, was led by the Senior Lecturer of PSM-cum-Chief Coordinator, Dr.  Nor Alisa Mohd Damanhuri and assisted by 36 facilitators consisting of UMPSA students.

“It is hoped that this programme will benefit all participants.

“I also call for more people to register as UMPSA Sejahtera members because the staff will receive many benefits and together we can improve the welfare of UMPSA staff,” he said.

Dr. Nor Alisa Mohd Damanhuri said that this programme also exposed children to the importance of mathematics in life.

“In each session during this programme, the participants will participate in four activities, namely nature walk, maths craft, culinary maths and number jump.

“All activities are aimed at revealing the knowledge of measuring volume, area, perimeter, arranging, making pie charts, histograms, tallying, adding, fractions, ratios, percentages, comparing, estimating, counting steps following the musical rhythm and mathematics in cooking,” she said.

She hoped that the knowledge gained by the participants could be utilised and that the experience would instil interest in mathematics for the participants.

According to one of the participants, Nik Arilyssa Qyhreen Hana Nik Hashimie, 10, at first she was afraid to attend this programme because she had no other friends going but she was happy when she met new friends here.

“That made me excited to join this programme.

“The most interesting activity was cooking where we had to use the measurements given.

“Through this activity, I gained a better understanding of volume and others,” she said.

By: Nor Salwana Mohammad Idris, Centre for Corporate Communications

Translation by: Dr.  Rozaimi  Abu  Samah, Faculty   of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology