Swati Sircar

Biography

Swati grew up with a Montessori childhood. Math is the 2nd love of her life (1st one is painting). It led her to be an INMO finalist and to attend Math Olympiad training camps. This paved the way for her to continue with math in Indian Statistical Institute and then at University of Washington. While aboard, she realized that her passion lies with teaching and she experienced the same at Shoreline Community College with very diverse classroom - age-wise and community-wise. She returned to India to work more deeply in school math. She has the privilege to work with children (and their teachers) who find math difficult as well as those who come from poorer communities and to find solutions for the same. She has worked with many NGOs and government school teachers catering to urban-poor and rural communities including adivasi communities. She utilizes her exposure to resources created and approaches adapted by various math resource groups across India and synthesizes them to get the optimum best practice for the teachers. She utilizes (and sometime innovates to make low-cost versions of) a range of teaching aids with a clear focus on the advantages and limitations of each. She is keenly interested in hands on activities, explorations, open-ended questions as well as computer aided learning. She is also an origami enthusiast and utilizes that as well as her Montessori exposure in her current work. Academic Qualifications MS in Math, University of Washington, Seattle, USA M.Stat., Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi B.Stat. (Hons.), Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Research Interest

Mathematics Learning and teaching of mathematics in school Mat(h)erials or materials fostering mathematical thinking and learning