MUMBAI INDIA — Bombay Scottish has long been a name to reckon with. A 150-year-old landmark in every sense of the word, BS is the epitome of good education and discipline. The ancient banyan tree in the quadrangle—on which many a young student has skinned his or her knees while swinging from its leafy vines—points to continuity.
As much of the education community struggles to incorporate technology into mainstream curriculum, at this school, the hands of time have not changed the philosophy that discipline and high teaching standards lead to success. In just one month, this storied school embraced the First In Math Online Program and generated record-breaking activity, solving more than 900,000 maths problems online. Its top three teams, Quest, Throne and Quasar, have each amassed 24,000, 20,000 and 19,000 stickers respectively under the leadership of teachers R.C. Robinson and Bhindu Ramesh.
Ms. Sarah Thomas, dedicated FIM Anchor and Coordinator of Maths, explains how Bombay Scottish achieved such success. “We implemented the program in August of 2012. Right away we realized that it made the students practice more. It also increased their competitive spirit, so the teachers began to update the children about the FIM Rankings on a regular basis in order to encourage them to solve more problems.”
“Our faculty spoke to the parents and the children and showed the website to them. We explained to students that this was a fun way to practice their math concepts, and we told them about the incentives like Player of the Week and how that student would be allowed to wear the badge for an entire week,” says Thomas. “Students became competitive with each other quickly, and eagerly waited to see who would be the Player of the Week.”
“Bombay Scottish Teachers were receptive to the program from the start, which in many ways is the biggest contributing factor the success of FIM,” according to First In Math Global Implementation Strategist Monica Patel.
“Now, the children use the program primarily at home, showing that they have taken complete ownership of maths practice,” says Thomas, who agrees with Patel that the support and enthusiasm of standard-wise anchors Ms. Bharthi, Ms. Mukherjee, Ms. Zariwala, and Ms. Lulla have motivated students to become ‘fearless’ mathematicians.