The BB Connection: Making Maths Accessible and Fun

Monisha, a bright and eager 7th grader at the Government Kannada Higher Primary School (GKHPS), Murphy Town, is always at the centre of activity. Though she excels in maths, she finds it difficult—until Building Blocks begins reshaping her perception.

For the second consecutive week, Shivakumar from Akshara’s Maths Resource Team has brought smartphones preloaded with Building Blocks (BB) for 7th and 8th graders. Though not a formal classroom intervention, the school embraces innovative learning, with HM Kanakesh G. and teacher Manjula G.M. supporting their 70 students in grades 1-8.

Students eagerly gather as the BB anthem plays. Darshini and Chetana work in tandem, solving shape-based puzzles. Darshini listens intently to the Kannada voiceover, while Chetana taps the screen swiftly, sometimes missing the cues in her enthusiasm. Rupesh, serious and focused, works on integer operations, beaming when he gets an answer right.

Monisha finds herself in a tough spot for a little while, picks up her pen snappily, and tries to work her problem through on the palm of her hand. Manjula tells her, “Do a simpler sum. Something easier.” Monisha is adamant. It’s much like her determination to go to college. “I must. I must,” she says even as her eyes cloud uncertainly. At 8 pm on most days her mother, a domestic worker, gives Monisha her Moto smartphone to play BB, bound by a diktat of 20 minutes. Her stand doesn’t soften even when she knows her daughter is playing maths games on an app. The fear of misuse and straying into objectionable content is so dominant.

Monisha is still trying her luck with division with integers. She puts her pen away and concentrates on the BB screen with renewed attention, observes closely, and listens carefully one more time, and suddenly illumination strikes. With BB’s prompts, Monisha has led herself to the right answer and she slaps her head in self-remonstration. Why hadn’t she

thought of it before? A beatific smile spreads across her face. Is maths still difficult? The smile gets wider, more vivid. “No,” she says. “When I get stars on the app for correct answers I feel so happy that I’ve scored a victory.” In class tests her marks are seldom below 18/20 or 36/40.

Balaji, working on measurement, initially struggles with the app. Shivakumar guides him, and soon he confidently arranges big numbers. BB’s real-life examples and Kannada audio help him grasp concepts intuitively.

Rupesh, whose father, a single parent, struggles to charge their phone, finds ways to access BB on friends’ devices. “He’s played all the 6th and 7th-grade games—algebra, geometry, fractions,” Shivakumar notes.

An hour passes in a fleeting hurry. They’ve all been in their expansive worlds on a small screen, maths dominating their thoughts, relishing the BB experience. Darshini and Chetana, Monisha and Jayanthi, Rupesh alone in princely fashion with the Tab. Balaji, ever obedient and muted, striving by himself. Or Yuvanesh who struggles with the most basic maths, says Manjula, playing with the lower grade curriculum on BB with a positivity that says, “I can’t have enough of this.”

Shivakumar goes around every little hub and tells them gently that time is up. The enthusiasm, the urgent, low-voiced discussions around maths on BB, the smiles vanish. Their faces shrink. Shalini stares glumly as Shivakumar packs up the smartphones in his backpack. The magic has faded. But not hope. Every free period or during recess they request Manjula for her smartphone which she freely hands over with suggestions on what to look for, and they go into a BB huddle. The connection only grows stronger.