06/07/2020

At 12 years old, Catarina teaches math on YouTube.

Foto: Reprodução YouTube

It is through her computer that little Catarina Xavier has been attending school classes since the beginning of social isolation due to the new coronavirus. “Studying at home is different, I feel lonely because I’m away from my teachers and classmates.” And to try to ease her longing for the school environment, the 12-year-old girl created a YouTube channel, CatMat , and started teaching her favorite subject, mathematics.

“I always wanted to be a YouTuber and I’ve always loved math. Creating the channel was a creative and fun way to learn, study, share, and teach math.” The 7th-grade student already has over 22,000 followers on the video platform and 11,000 followers on her Instagram account, with the help of her mother, Evelise, who manages the pages.

When recording the videos, the two move the furniture in the room to make room to talk about rational numbers, fractions, square roots, products and quotients, among other mathematical topics. After filming, the captured material is edited and includes graphic illustrations such as pie charts and geometric shapes, which aim to facilitate understanding for those who will watch the lessons.

“I happily help Catarina realize her dream. There are also concerns due to the high profile, but I manage all the social media. Today, I juggle the roles of photographer, editor, and proofreader, among others. All in order to see her happy,” assures Evelise.

Numbers definitely run in this family living in São Paulo. “My mother also loves math. She’s an accountant and used to teach accounting at the Technical School of Accounting. My brother finished high school and is preparing for the university entrance exam. So, he also spends a lot of time studying math. My father, on the other hand, refreshes his knowledge of the subject by watching my videos,” she says.

Catarina says she is mainly inspired by videos of curiosities and games she already watched, and by the absence of "mathematical content with a younger and more fun language". The student hopes to soon realize other dreams, beyond the internet: to see the world and write a book about science.