Padmapriya Shirali is Part of the Community Math Centre based in Valley School (Bangalore) and Rishi Valley (AP), where she has worked since 1983, teaching a variety of subjects – mathematics, computer applications, geography, economics, environmental studies and Telugu. In the 1990s, she worked closely with the late Shri P K Srinivasan. She was part of the team that created the multi-grade elementary learning program of the Rishi Valley Rural Centre, known as ‘School in a Box.’ She is currently part of the NCERT textbook development group.
Padmapriya Shirali
padmapriya.shirali@gmail.com
From the Author
Handbooks
Foundational (Pre-primary, Class 1-2)
Teaching Geometry
Prior to entering formal school, a child in her interaction with the environment and natural surroundings encounters different forms and shapes (2-D and 3-D). She has absorbed the perceptions that every object has a form with recognizable features which can be observed, identified, named, described and categorized. She has already experienced numerous examples of these forms.
Handbooks
Foundational (Pre-primary, Class 1-2)
Preparatory (Class 3-5)
Teaching Time
Time is one concept that is used by human beings on a daily basis, and perhaps in an instinctive way by animals and plant life too! The cock knows when to go ‘cock-a doodle doo’. Flowers know when to open their petals. Trees know when to shed their leaves.
Handbooks
Foundational (Pre-primary, Class 1-2)
Preparatory (Class 3-5)
Teaching Measurement
Measurement occupies a unique position in the curriculum, for various reasons. As it is an essential everyday activity in human life, children are naturally exposed to measurement in various situations at home and elsewhere.
Handbooks
Preparatory (Class 3-5)
Teaching Area and perimeter
Area and perimeter are forms of measurement that are used commonly in many day-to-day activities. In particular, area is used in an intuitive way on an everyday basis when we select a plate to cover a utensil, a table cloth for a specific table, a sheet of paper to cover a book, etc. Without really knowing the specific words, children also commonly make judgements which involve an intuitive understanding of area. A question that naturally arises is: When or why do we want to know the exact size of a space? Demonstration of this point needs to happen repeatedly through real world applications.
Handbooks
Preparatory (Class 3-5)
Middle (Class 6-8)
Weaving in Mathematics
In January 2025, two editors of At Right Angles made a visit to the District Institutes of the Azim Premji Foundation at Bhopal and Damoh. As part of this visit, they spent time at some of the schools that the Resource Persons of the Foundation interact with. This Pullout is a follow up of the observations made by Padmapriya Shirali who was part of this expedition.