Magazine Author 02

In today’s educational landscape, particularly post-covid, where the goal is to foster student achievement and academic success but also address any learning gaps, instructional coaches and teacher interventionists can play pivotal roles. These professionals collaborate with teachers to improve instructional strategies and provide additional support to students who need it most. By offering tailored guidance and intervention, they help create an environment conducive to learning, ensure that diverse needs are met, and drive positive outcomes for both educators and students. This is a reflection on the integration and positive impact that these practices have had at my school, West Aurora.

Mahidol Wittayanusorn School (MWIT), a specialized science high school, has been assigned to provide advanced academic content and practical skills in eight subjects for students by organizing Olympiad camps and selecting representatives for national Olympiad competitions. Last year, the 21st Thailand Astronomy Olympiad (TAO 21), consisting of three main parts: theory, observation, and data analysis, was held in May 2024. To prepare our students, we analyzed previous feedback indicating that the summative assessments of our students’ data analysis skills were unsatisfactory. This could be due to a lack of effective practice within a limited timeframe. To address this issue, we aimed to develop a team-based learning approach in data analysis in astronomy to prepare representative students from the MWIT Astronomy Olympiad Center for TAO 21.

Developing a positive disposition towards mathematics can help transform what is too often regarded as an academic chore into what should be an exciting and rewarding journey of discovery: fostering curiosity, resilience, and a passion for problem-solving. Why is it that learning and teaching maths is such a discouraging undertaking for so many and what can be done to improve the classroom experience? In the following case study, I explain how we teach and learn maths at ASMS.

Our cryptographic system is rooted in Amidakuji, which is a Japanese game for assigning jobs by lot. Players begin on top and swap lines on “direction-changer” bars, yielding diverse outputs. The game’s permutation guarantees distinct maps and no overlap. Group theory augments Amidakuji’s structure and cryptographic use. Unlike other permutation-based cryptographic methods, which often rely on simple cyclic or transposition-based permutations, Amidakuji permutations exhibit structured randomness due to their dependency on interconnected paths. This structure makes it harder to predict outputs without knowing the exact Amidakuji configuration.