IDEMS has a background in Education and many staff are passionate about mathematical science education in particular. This will always be a place of innovation and creativity for the IDEMS team as we are content experts alongside our technical role. In Africa we are also well placed to work directly with grassroot local implementors having an extensive network of personal contacts.
Our partners SAMI and AMI have over 10 years experience running African Maths camps with clear cases where lives had been changing through a few playful mathematical interactions. The big challenge has been to create virally scalable interventions which preserve the transformative substance. The latest initiative in this direction is the virtual maths camp and the corresponding maths game ambassador programme.
Automated personalised feedback for students answers as mathematical expressions is transforming Mathematics education everywhere. However, in Africa, the potential for impact is magnified due to the challenging environments education systems are facing. Large classes and heavy workloads make it challenging for educators to give the personalised student feedback that they would like. Initial efforts at universities have shown to be impactful while being positively received by most students and lecturers involved.
AI is finally starting to demonstrate the kind of potential its advocates have long predicted. Whether that potential is positive or negative remains to be seen. By revisiting and revitalising the principles of statistics – that underpin contemporary data science – and ethical philosophy, we are supporting policy and practice for enlightened rather than exploitative AI development.
