On 28 November, Esperanza Teixidor, a Professor from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria and member of the Association of Mathematics Teachers on the Canary Islands, gave a session to 2nd and 3rd year students. These students are taking a Bachelor's degree in Primary Education at UIC Barcelona, and in the session she taught them about the BaFi didactic cube.
Esperanza Teixidor, creator of the BaFi (Bastón-Figurí) cube, demonstrated a new way to learn about geometry in a much more attractive way than conventional methods have previously allowed. The BaFi is a cube made of hollow sticks containing elastic cords, designed to help learning about geometry become a game. It promotes an interest in and significant knowledge about this material, thus developing imagination and creativity.
“While using it in the classroom with our students, we have discovered that BaFi increases their interest in geometry since it is connected to reality, and this means they pay greater attention to and concentrate more on their work”, she explained.
According to Salvador Vidal, a Mathematics Professor from the Faculty of Education, geometry (which literally means to measure the earth) is often done on paper, when it should really be undertaken outside and should involve being able to measure and compare the size and capacity of objects. Esperanza Teixidor’s invention is now being used in more than 80 schools on the Canary Islands and also in one in Barcelona. It appeared in the July edition of the "Números, Revista Didáctica de Matemáticas” journal and she is planning to travel around the world presenting her invention.
For more information please visit the BaFi website: https://cubodidacticobafi.com
