Maarit Rossi : A teacher who made Maths fun and interesting

In a student’s  life, a teacher plays a very important role. A student is influenced and inspired by their teachers. According to stats, more than 46% of children dislike the subject Maths. Maarit Rossi is a Finnish Math teacher, who has passionately worked for decades to make education in Maths more student-centric.

Her mother had to do two jobs so that she could educate her two daughters. Both girls understood their mother’s sacrifices. Their mother wanted them to have a good education so that they can always be financially independent. Maarit studied Maths and Science and graduated as Maths teacher to a Finnish primary school.

After working some years, she began to think about why Maths is one of the most disliked subjects in the school. In most schools, mathematics is still taught in a traditional way – a teacher stands in front of the class and students repeat formulas from the board. This method is suited for only a small percentage of students when most children find it boring and difficult. When working as a teacher in 1990’s, Maarit Rossi noticed the students’ lack of motivation in mathematics. Together with her colleagues she started to develop new methods to engage students in the classroom. She wrote nine math textbooks.

She worked some years in the Economic Information Bureau as a school officer and a project manager. She was responsible for projects to improve young people’s knowledge of technology and possibilities in the Finnish industry.After three years in the bureau, she started as principal. Students from Maarit’s school performed well above average in PISA mathematics scores as well as in national tests.

She got a 2006 Fulbright scholarship to New York. With her Fulbright fellow Maarit Rossi established Paths to Math LTD, a company and website for teaching and learning mathematics in three languages. Today their company, Paths to Math, helps students and teachers to learn maths in an effective, efficient and fun way. She took part in the Global Teacher Prize competition and was among the top 10 finalists in 2016. Since then she has been a keynote speaker and teacher training around the world. She has been to many countries like  India, Tanzania, Turkey, Russia, Poland, China and Brazil.

She engages her students in different outdoor activities and by the means of those activities she teaches difficult mathematics concepts easily. It also helps the students to retain the knowledge. The subject of mathematics is very important as it encourages logical reasoning, creative thinking, critical thinking and also develops problem solving abilities. But most of the students are discouraged from taking this subject because they find it difficult and boring. But teachers like Maarit are boon to the world who are putting extraordinary efforts to make difficult subject like Maths interesting and fun.