Pauza de Mate

Basic information

Project Title

Pauza de Mate

Full project title

Pauza de Mate

Project Description

Pauza de Mate (Math Break) is an educational platform born to support romanian students during the pandemic lockdowns. It provides math lessons and videos both on YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/c/PauzadeMate ) and www.pauzademate.ro . With over 10 million views Pauza de Mate is constantly growing adding more and more lessons and educational videos for all students in need.

Geographical Scope

National

Project Region

Romania

Urban or rural issues

It addresses urban-rural linkages

Physical or other transformations

It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

EU Programme or fund

Description of the project

Summary

Pauza de Mate (Math Break) project started from our desire to help students/pupils with math classes during the pandemic period. The educational system was one of the most affected and both the teachers and their students were facing a new challenge by going away from schools and classes to home-learning or e-learning. The whole process happened fast and we all had to adapt to the new environment. Not all were prepared for this being by the level of online teaching abilities, right equipment or proper workspace. Families with more than one child in school had to prioritize the attendance on online courses. As a teacher, even myself couldn’t have full attendance, students were not able to connect all the time, missing classes. Facing this challenge, we created the first video lessons as a learning tool for those in need. This helped them by being able to access the lessons whenever they had the possibility, the time or the right device. On April 1st 2020, with the feedback we received from my students and more requests coming from their friends for access to the lessons, we started the YouTube channel Pauza de Mate. Since then, we published more than 500 videos with lessons, tests and informative content. Those were viewed more than 10 million times totaling around 900.000 watching hours. To better catalogue the videos, we also launched pauzademate.ro. The project continues now by publishing resources that can be used both at school by teachers and at home by students who want to better understand or go more in depth on specific mathematics topics and notions.

Key objectives for sustainability

One of the most important objectives is quality education, which is also on the 4th place in the set of 17 sustainable development objectives proposed by the UN. Pauza de Mate helps students with or without financial means to have free access to educational resources useful in preparing for national exams and beyond.

Key objectives for aesthetics and quality

Mathematics has always been regarded as a difficult discipline and some students have problems mastering it. Pauza de Mate wants to bring the students closer to this discipline by presenting the lessons in a friendly way, through an accessible language and by offering the emotional support and the positive approach necessary to overcome obstacles in learning.

Key objectives for inclusion

Through the available resources, we want to support all students regardless of their level of math knowledge, location or background. That's why all the videos are available on free platforms, easy to access, structured on different levels of difficulty, being accessible to everyone.

Results in relation to category

In the two years, Pauza de Mate came to the support of tens of thousands of students, the resources having over 10 million views and approximately 900 000 watching hours.

How Citizens benefit

Pauza de Mate came in support of tens of thousands of students. During more than 2 years of activity, the student and their parents have given positive feedback and most of them specify how important this help is for them or their children, especially in such difficult times, when many cannot afford additional private lessons to better prepare for school tests, national exams or college admissions.

Physical or other transformations

It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Innovative character

Supporting students learning math and preparing for exams in the comfort of their own home, at any time and for free.

Disciplines/knowledge reflected

Mathematics is the main subject that can be found in the resources. Lessons are presented in an interdisciplinary manner, combining the notions of mathematics and physics, biology and geography.

Methodology used

Pauza de Mate, based on the official Romanian curricula for mathematics, creates videos to support students in class or at home. We design our videos as easy to understand, accessible lessons, tests, practical examples with interdisciplinary accents to better understand mathematical notions or theories.

How stakeholders are engaged

The project is carried out by a team of two people as a private initiative. The design and the structure of the resources are made to replicate the school lessons as faithfully as possible.

Global challenges

Quality and accesible education is the major objective of the project. A global event like Covid19 pandemic can disrupt the traditional educational process and block or make it more difficult. An online library of resources can offer an alternative or provide additional support to both teachers and students.

Learning transferred to other parties

The lessons are already used by teachers in the classrooms. The videos can be used as additional support to the classroom lessons, recap opportunities, home learning, support for the continued educational process in force majeure (lockdowns, quarantine) cases.