27/01/2020

With more than 60 centers, PAPMEM starts this Monday (27)

The last week of January started even busier at IMPA. In the institute's corridors, students from the Summer Course are sharing space with the PAPMEM group (Professional Development Program for High School Mathematics Teachers) . Around 150 teachers will have in-person classes at IMPA until Friday (31). But in total there are more than 2,900 participants distributed across 60 centers throughout Brazil.

“It is a program to share the beauty and technique of mathematics with teachers in the field in a well-founded way,” says Professor Luciano Castro, who gave a lecture on financial mathematics on Monday morning (27) and has been participating in PAPMEM since 2010.

Delivered in independent modules, twice a year, the program is a free training course for mathematics teachers throughout Brazil, focusing on the content of the three years of high school and topics from elementary school. Activities take place full-time, from 9 am to 5 pm, with lectures in the morning and group work in the afternoon.

The program coordinator, Eduardo Wagner, who holds a master's degree in Mathematics from IMPA and is a professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), believes that PAPMEM is a great opportunity to make connections. “The course has only grown over time, and today the numbers are significant. We have an enormous reach. The fact that it's in person is important because people meet, interact, and these contacts remain. It's a network that we are launching through the course,” he points out.

Luciano, a professor at the School of Applied Mathematics (EMAp) at FGV and coordinator of the "Mathematically" project , believes that the course motivates participants to become better teachers. "The more depth they have in these topics, the greater their ability to transmit content correctly. The goal is to get them excited about mathematics," he adds.

Luisa Mara Oliveira is participating in the program for the second time. A fan of Eduardo Wagner, coordinator of PAPMEM, she believes that the course brings a "different perspective" to the teacher. "We have a greater depth of understanding of certain topics that are only superficially covered in undergraduate studies."

Newly graduated engineer Lucas Melo Rodrigues is excited for the rest of the week. “The course is very strong in terms of review. Several topics are being covered that I haven't encountered in years, such as financial mathematics, for example.”

The lectures can be viewed at this link .