10/02/2023

Webinar discusses challenges in covering mathematics.

The challenges of journalistic coverage on topics involving mathematics were debated among the winners of the 5th edition of the IMPA Journalism Award, this Friday (10), in the webinar that aired on IMPA's YouTube channel . Bruno Romani (Estadão), Stefhanie Piovezan (Jornal da USP) and Lucas Duarte Matos (TV Liberal, affiliate of TV Globo in Pará), spoke with the award judges, Marcelo Viana, general director of IMPA, and the coordinator of the institute's Press and Content Office, Raphael Gomide.

The award winners highlighted that the main challenge for journalism when dealing with mathematics is explaining the topics clearly, precisely, and often without images – which is essential in a news report. The Director-General of IMPA reinforced how fundamental journalism is for communicating science and offered IMPA's support to media outlets to help in the process of "translating" mathematics.

“I know, from experience, that communicating mathematics is not easy. IMPA's effort to promote scientific communication and dissemination is because we have found that, on the communication side, there is sometimes a fear of delving into dry topics. Therefore, I reiterate that part of our role is also to make the work of journalists more accessible. Within my community, there is the impression that the media doesn't want to know about science, and I am on a crusade to say: 'yes, they do, but we need to help,' because communicating science, and mathematics in particular, is not simple, and we have a share of responsibility in making that happen,” stated Marcelo Viana.

First place

First place in Mathematics, with the report “How artificial intelligence revealed the secrets of the Beatles” , Bruno Romani, from Estadão, highlighted his enthusiasm for the award, before explaining the process of reporting the story. “A kid who struggled with math and science, winning not only 1st place in the IMPA award, but also in the Mathematics category, has already surpassed my dreams,” said the journalist, when discussing the use of artificial intelligence and its application in “demixing” algorithms that revealed “hidden” conversations of the Beatles.

The report explains the use of artificial intelligence in isolating each voice and musical instrument recorded together at the time. In Get Back , a Beatles documentary, the use of technology recovered conversations between the musicians that were obscured by the noise of instruments. “When they wanted to talk privately in the studios, but knew they were being recorded, they made noises. What Peter Jackson [director of the documentary] did was reduce the noise [of the instruments] and amplify the voices, which revealed the dialogues behind the cameras.”

Bruno, who is both a journalist and a musician, explains that the challenge of journalism in this field is to communicate the subject matter in an easy-to-understand way. “My mission is to translate technology for everyone, not just to a select few. If my mother, for example, understands what I'm saying, I've fulfilled my mission; if she doesn't, I have to go back and investigate again,” he explained.

Second place

Stefhanie Piovezan, who won second place with her article “ Elementary school students learn math and statistics by making skirts,” published in the USP Journal, explained how topics in statistics and geometry were used in the creation of the items in the classroom. The article was inspired by the story of two teachers whose mothers sewed and who used this family knowledge to teach mathematics. “The project led boys to make and try on skirts. Seeing a classroom discussing different body types, in addition to showing through statistics that the bodies of these young people are normal and that the industry uses other standards, is very important.”

Stephanie, who had already received the IMPA Journalism Award in 2019 in the Science Communication category, said she never imagined being awarded in Mathematics. "I was an excellent student, it was one of the degrees I considered pursuing, but I never thought I would win because of the difficulty of writing about the subject."

Third place

Lucas Duarte Matos represented the TV Liberal team, which came in third place with “ Pedagogical practices have tools in the virtual world for learning mathematics and geometry” . The report shows the use of technology in teaching mathematics and geometry, based on the use of virtual reality glasses made of Amazonian miriti wood that can transport students to “anywhere in the world”. The technology also allows interaction with the images through avatars that represent the students themselves.

“You can use the cell phone on a platform and the children can visualize and travel to other places in the world. Geometric shapes appear to them and, in this way, they receive the learning,” he explained. For Lucas, winning the award was an even greater source of pride because it was a regional theme. “We are very happy to be able to promote the Amazon and to show this incredible project,” he said.

On Wednesday (8), the webinar heard from the award winners in the Science Communication category. Nádia Pontes, from Deutsche Welle, Natália Belizário Silva and Jéssica Maes, from the Habitat Podcast of Folha de S.Paulo and Christina Queiroz, from Revista Pesquisa Fapesp, also shared with the public the process of verifying the winning articles.