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 On 7 April 2011 Maths Centre staff from all nine the provinces in South Africa gathered at Maths Centre's head office Johannesburg for three days of training. This kind of training happens often during school holidays, because most of the staff works in different schools all over the country. The staff that attended included provincial managers, trainers and admin assistants. The third day was marked by a surprise team building activity where Rangoli patterns were drawn and painted on canvases.
Rangoli patterns are traditional Indian decorations. The patterns are usually drawn near the entrance of houses to welcome guests for holidays and special occasions like weddings. The patterns are symmetric and includes geometric shapes, flowers, lines and dots.
The staff was asked to work with people they never worked with before. They had to work in groups of four deciding on the type of patterns to draw and paint, choosing colours and making decisions on how to draw their patterns on square or rectangular canvases. They found themselves using their measurement skills to draw symmetric shapes, perfect circles, rotational shapes and reflective shapes.
The paintings were done as a team building exercise and from the comments below the activity was a success:
"As a new trainer, it was a good activity to meet, get to know and work with people I have never seen before" said Jabulani Thomo a new trainer who will be working in Mpumalanga.
"I learnt some new patterns. I thought patterns in culture were only found in African culture like the Ndebele and many more. It was a great experience to work with people from other provinces I have never worked with before" said Thulani Masuku, a trainer from Gauteng province.
This article submitted by:
Thoko Gumede
Maths Centre Media Officer
Gauteng |
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Love Antoinette Mthetwa