“We have to give meaning to math,” says this teacher who explains everything in videos

2023-12-07 14:37:21

At 44, Younss Messoudi teaches maths in an engineering school and has also been a support teacher in Laval (Mayenne) for around twenty years. Faced with numerous questions from the middle and high school students he follows, this teacher launched Jai20enmathsone method among others based on short videos also available on its Youtube channel followed by more than 40,000 subscribers.

Are you surprised by the new Pisa ranking which shows a drop in the level of French students?

Not really, I see it every day. The big problem is that students often lack the basics: the multiplication tables are not known, young people do many things, even very simple ones, with their calculator, which means that they lack automatisms. There are also methodological problems which go hand in hand with difficulties in French. When children arrive in 6th grade already with these gaps, it is difficult for a teacher who is in front of an entire class to do something, especially since there is the entire program to be delivered behind. In 20 years, we have lost almost a year of teaching with certain concepts now seen in second grade whereas they were previously in third grade. But let’s not forget that France is very well ranked regarding Fields medals! So I think we can change the situation for students.

How, do you think?

Already by giving meaning to math. To all these young people who ask me “what is it for”, I show them that they are everywhere around us: when they go shopping, when they are at home… If it weren’t for the famous theorem of Pythagoras, the walls of their house would collapse! For a young person to enjoy doing math, it must be done in the form of a game, from a young age. Give him theory of course but also tell him what it is for and then be able to correct him on methodology and rigor. Otherwise, he will give up! I think that the “Singapore method”, which the minister wishes to experiment with, is interesting for this. Even if we will have to be patient, with effects that will only be seen in ten years.

You already use the game in your videos and your private lessons…

Faced with a theoretical question, I have a very short three-minute video which explains the concept, and then we go through exercises of increasing level to give confidence, with a system of points and levels to pass, to the challenge. Math is like football. If the young person trains, he will progress. During my lessons, I use the game a lot too. For example for the notion of ratio, which the students don’t really like: Paul, Pierre and Jacques share 150 euros but they are not all entitled to the same number of shares. How much will they each receive? The easiest way is to do it with cakes, or even change. But this method can only work with smaller groups, and more teachers. The minister seems to have understood this, but let’s wait and see with what means he will put all this in place.