Inspiring story: Alessandra and Marcos Paulo, Ceilândia (DF)
Love, a singular masculine noun. In the Aurélio dictionary, it's defined as a deep affection for someone or something. For teachers Alessandra Lisboa and Marcos Paulo Barbosa, from the Centro de Ensino Médio (CEM) 09 in Ceilândia, the definition is perfect. Their love – and admiration – for each other is evident. And so is their affection for numbers. What mathematics has united, no obstacle can separate. In plain English, they are changing the lives of hundreds of young people in an underprivileged area of the federal capital.
“We don’t have sponsorship; our work is voluntary.” The school provides a room, since the project has the full support of the director of CEM 09, Professor José Gadelha Loureiro. The rest is the dedication of the students – says Alessandra, creator of the Everyday Mathematics project, which, in the 2015 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad), had 30 students among the 43 who qualified for the second phase of the Olympiad.
The results of the "Everyday Math" program made CEM 09 a champion in the Olympiad. Of the 380 participants between 2007 and 2015, 145 were awarded prizes in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools). Last year, 14 earned a place in the Scientific Initiation Program (PIC). The work of Alessandra and Marcos Paulo also resulted in 91 young people being accepted into public universities – 86 at the University of Brasília, four at the Higher School of Health Sciences, and one at the Federal Institute of Brasília.
And another 70 students received full scholarships from ProUni to pursue higher education at private colleges. One of the students received a full scholarship for medicine.
Former students of CEM 09, Alessandra and Marcos Paulo decided to encourage participation in OBMEP in 2007. At the time, she was an administrative supervisor and he taught at the Dom Pedro II Military College, of the Brasília Fire Department.
Alessandra wanted to do something for the school she attended. Marcos Paulo, another former student, agreed to volunteer. In 2007 and 2008, the students received 14 honorable mentions. In 2009, they won their first medal, a bronze. But counting the results in medals or honorable mentions is not the priority of Matemática Todo Dia (Everyday Math).
“These young people have been given a chance they would never have had otherwise. Before, they thought about taking the entrance exam, passing – maybe – into some private college and getting financing to pay for it. Now, they know they can go to the University of Brasília (UnB) or another public university,” the professor proudly states.
"These young people were given a chance they never would have had otherwise."
It's no fairy tale. At 19, Paulo Victor Reis Moreira is already in his sixth semester of mathematics at UnB (University of Brasília). A bronze medalist in the 2012 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), he earned the university score even before finishing high school. Now, he wants to give back. Even knowing that his talent for exact sciences could lead to better pay, he plans to graduate and become a teacher.
"It's no use having engineers, doctors, and lawyers if we don't have good teachers. Education is the foundation of everything. That's why I want to dedicate myself to teaching," says the young man.
“How can we measure our joy when we hear a story like this? It’s the certainty that we did everything right,” says Alessandra, wiping away tears as she recounts the stories of her pupils, who are proud to say they study at the “School of Talents.”
In practice, Alessandra and Marcos Paulo brought the teachings of educator Paulo Freire to mathematics. They use elements from the students' daily lives to convey the lessons. They created specific games for the study of numbers. Thus, learning geometry, for example, a bogeyman for generations of students, is almost child's play. A board representing a fictional city, toy cars, dice, and there are the notions of space that many struggle to understand.
“Games serve to transform the student's social and cultural reality into learning. It's a playful way to develop logical and spatial reasoning,” explains Marcos Paulo.
Alessandra adds that the project's methodology combines games with OBMEP materials, such as question banks and past exams.
“We use OBMEP materials in the classroom and encourage students to watch the problem-solving videos posted on the Olympiad's website at home. In this way, we increasingly spark interest in mathematics, revealing talents and fulfilling the dream of many to enter university.”
In the "Everyday Math" program, students from all three years of high school work together in a collaborative learning scheme. Those who find the subject easier sit with classmates who learn more slowly. It's no wonder that many discover a previously unknown vocation for teaching.
“We are receiving students who don’t study at CEM 09, but want to participate in the project. We can’t refuse. They are siblings of our young people and will also be prepared,” Alessandra says proudly.
Perhaps what motivates the couple is the thought that their trajectory was an exception. CEM 09 serves a lower-middle-class clientele, and many students live in at-risk areas. Marcos Paulo, who repeated the 7th grade of elementary school, served in the Air Force and joined the Fire Department after finishing high school – only then was he able to attend university. He was already passionate about numbers, but had learned little when he took his first university entrance exam; he didn't even know what trigonometry was. Even so, he persevered and passed the entrance exam for Mathematics at UnB (University of Brasília). As soon as he started the course, he was invited to teach at the Dom Pedro II Military College. In 2014, he completed his master's degree in Mathematics Education at UnB, and his research, of course, was about the Everyday Mathematics Project.
“Brazilian students don’t have the habit of studying daily. Education has to become routine, unlike marriage,” the professor jokes. “That’s our proposal: to create a study routine for these young people, but not in the sense of repetition. We want to break down the barrier that public schools only offer the bare minimum,” he states.
Alessandra also struggled to graduate. She studied administration, specializing in Education and Technology. Later, she pursued a degree in mathematics. Her specialty? Collaborative learning. In 2006, the opportunity arose to return to CEM 09 as an administrative supervisor. And every day, an idea lingered in her thoughts: how to give the young people there the opportunity to go further?
“My unease grew when I noticed that many schools participated in OBMEP and mine didn't. I thought about putting together a project to prepare the students, but I needed a volunteer teacher. I told Marcos Paulo, and he immediately said he wanted to help, and it worked,” says Alessandra, who completed her master's degree in Education at UnB and is currently pursuing her doctorate.
In the first year of the "Everyday Math" project, Alessandra went from classroom to classroom explaining what OBMEP was and how the extra preparation for the Olympiad exams would work. There were ten classes on logical reasoning and problem-solving, held in the evening. Of the 60 students who had passed the first phase of the Olympiad, 50 showed up for the project. Six received honorable mentions. Currently, according to the teacher, the project consists of "18 playful and collaborative classes."
“In a social context of vulnerability, it is impossible to measure the impact of this type of achievement. Our first challenge was precisely to make the students understand that they were capable,” recalls the teacher.
To help with the mission, another group of volunteers was called upon: the families of the young people. Initially, the idea of allowing their children to participate in a project at night at school was viewed with suspicion, even for safety reasons. But, little by little, the parents understood the importance of that proposal and became allies of the teachers.
“The presence of parents is crucial in the education of children. The school cannot handle all the work alone. When families actively participate in school life, children perform much better,” says Marcos Paulo.
Since 2011, the "Everyday Math" program has been included in the pedagogical project of CEM 09. Alessandra took on the role of Olympic coordinator and today organizes the participation of the children in 15 different knowledge olympiads – the monitors are the students themselves. This mobilization has transformed the school into a local success: daily, parents approach the administration interested in securing one of the 1,500 available spots.
"Brazilian students don't have the habit of studying daily. Education needs to become routine."
“Learning mathematics changes a student's relationship with education in general. Logical reasoning is useful for all subjects. It's rare to find someone who masters numbers and doesn't perform well in other subjects. What students need is someone to encourage them to study and show them that they are capable,” says Alessandra.
Stories of overcoming adversity.
Genetic inheritance is like that: when siblings Luísa Caroline Costa Abreu, Lucas Mateus Cirino Martins, and Maiara Cristina Abreu Cirino Martins start talking about math, nobody can compete with them.
Luísa received an honorable mention in all three years she participated in the project, and completed the PIC in 2014 and 2015. Maiara, a 9th-grade student, received an honorable mention in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Lucas is currently in his Tuesdays year of high school and advanced to the second phase of the Olympiad this year.
The trio is the pride of their parents, a military police officer and a court clerk. All three siblings are participating in the 2016 "Everyday Math" program, but only Lucas is a student at CEM 09.
“At home, we compete to see who is the best, but it’s just for fun,” says Lucas, noting that despite their different grades, the brothers study together.
“People are always asking us to do math problems. But nobody here is a 'nerd'. We just like to study,” adds the youngest, Maiara.
"I have no doubt: the three of us will get into UnB. OBMEP has already changed our lives," Luisa predicts.
The young woman wants to repeat the story of students like 19-year-old Bruno Souza, who, after finishing high school at CEM 09, passed the entrance exam for Physics at UnB (University of Brasília). In his second and third years, he received honorable mentions in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools). He was champion of the Brazilian Rocket Olympiad and a medalist in the Brazilian Astronomy and Astronautics Olympiad. He was also accepted into the aerospace engineering program, but chose Physics because he wants to be a teacher.
“I regret that many schools don’t value student participation in the Olympiads. My elementary education was very poor. When I arrived at CEM 09, everything changed. I would hardly have been able to get into UnB without Matemática Todo Dia,” says Bruno.
"Learning mathematics changes the student's relationship with education in general. Logical reasoning is useful for all subjects."
Interestingly, not all students in the project pursue careers in the exact sciences after high school. Lívia Alves da Costa, 22, who received three honorable mentions in the Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP), is studying Law at the University of Brasília (UnB). She became acquainted with the work of professors Alessandra and Marcos Paulo in 2009 and, until then, was unaware of her aptitude for numbers. The professors encouraged the shy girl to participate in a robotics olympiad. Lívia came in first place in Brasília and fourth in Brazil, which earned her an invitation to another olympiad, exclusively for women, in the United States.
“I had potential, but I didn’t believe in it,” recalls the aspiring lawyer. “The encouragement from my teachers was fundamental. With mathematics, I developed logical reasoning, and that’s useful for any profession. Today, mathematics is a hobby because I intend to be a criminologist. But there’s no conflict between exact sciences and humanities: all knowledge is useful and complements each other,” says the young woman, one of the volunteer teachers at Matemática Todo Dia (Everyday Math).
"WE WANT TO BREAK THE BARRIER THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS ONLY OFFER THE BARE MINIMUM"
Another volunteer teacher is Igor Magri, 20, who is studying International Relations at UnB. In July of this year, he was in Portugal with Professor Alessandra and another former student of the project, Elaine Sampaio, to give a presentation for the scientific communication of the “Collaborative and Solidarity Network of CEM 09” at the World Congress on Learning Styles in Bragança.
In 2013, Igor received an honorable mention in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools). The previous year, he had been to India, participating in Quanta 2012, an international competition in science, mathematics, electronics, and mental skills. The trip was a struggle. The government of Brasília paid for the airfare, but the students had to fend for themselves to find accommodation and food.
“We only had the trip confirmed eight hours before boarding. But we couldn't miss that opportunity. It was wonderful,” says Igor.
Going through hardship is a reality that Luan da Cruz Vieira, a 19-year-old medical student, knows well. When he was in high school, he lived 40 minutes from CEM 09, in the Sol Nascente community, and for safety reasons, his family hesitated to let him participate in the "Everyday Math" program. On the path of the young man, a silver medalist in the 2013 and 2014 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), another obstacle arose: his mother had cancer and he had to take care of her. But it was precisely she who became his greatest supporter.
“He was an excellent student, but it seemed like everything was conspiring against him,” observes teacher Alessandra. “We persisted, we talked to the family, and the result is there,” she exclaims.
“On the day of the 2013 OBMEP exam, I arrived late because there were no buses,” the young man recalls. “But it worked out in the end.” And it really did. Luan is studying Medicine on a full scholarship at the Catholic University of Brasília.
Ana Carolina Alves de Souza, 19, currently a Mechatronics Engineering student at the University of Brasília, won bronze medals in 2013 and silver medals in 2014. They were worth as much as gold. The shy girl, who sat at the back of the classroom, barely opened her notebooks and was always quiet, revealed herself to be a talent for "all subjects," as Professor Alessandra points out.
The daughter of a driver and a homemaker, she won first place in the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad in Brasília in 2014 and represented the city in a national competition in São Carlos (SP). “She is one of the most dedicated volunteer teachers at Matemática Todo Dia,” says Alessandra. Ana Carolina created a preparatory course for elementary school students, using age-appropriate language. Her inspiration? Her younger brothers, Marcos Paulo and Júlio César.
“Without the help of my teachers, I would never have tried to compete in an Olympiad. I thought I couldn't, that I wasn't good enough. I was wrong, wasn't I?” she asks, unable to hide her shyness. She was, Ana Carolina.