They promote the use of nepohualtzitzin to teach mathematics

Laura Poy Solano

The newspaper La Jornada
Monday, July 22, 2024, p. 4

Known as the pre-Hispanic computer, the nepohualtzitzin, an instrument with which the Mesoamerican peoples carried out their mathematical operations and calculations, allows students to have an experiential learning of mathematics, which not only stimulates their knowledge, but also their imagination.say teachers and directors of basic education.

Recovered in the 1980s by civil engineer David Esparza Hidalgo, a graduate of the National Polytechnic Institute, who carried out an in-depth investigation lasting almost two decades to learn about the mathematical processes and instruments used by indigenous peoples, the use of nepohualtzitzin or nepo, although not new in public classrooms, since its use dates back to the 1994-1995 school year, is still unknown to most educators, students and parents.

Very committed teachers have promoted the use of the nepo in classrooms, mainly in public schools, for at least almost three decades. It is an instrument that consists of a structure with two separation bars and 13 horizontal lines, which represent the dimensions of the human body and the universe for ancient indigenous peoples.explained Professor Francisco Bravo, with 38 years of service and director of the Leonardo Bravo elementary school, in the Cuauhtémoc municipality.

At school, he explains, “we have promoted it and it is part of the tools that teachers can use to teach mathematics. In addition, since it is made with beads – made of plastic or wood – in the shape of corn kernels, children also participate in a creative process, because they can manipulate them, which makes mathematical operations easier for them.”

With the nepo, says Professor Edith Alcaraz Hernández, deputy director of school management at the Plan de Iguala elementary school in the Iztapalapa municipality, You can work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division operations; even the use of the decimal point and groupings, so it is not an abacus, but a real calculation instrument..

With 12 years of teaching experience, she remembers that her first encounter with the nepohualtzitzin was during a school technical council session, when she was working as a teacher at the Miguel Lerdo de Tejada elementary school and was seeking to improve mathematics learning in her group.

One of the teachers told us that she was working with a strategy that was very useful for working with students, as it helped make mathematics more experiential and tangible.Explain.

They proposed it to us as a teaching group and we decided to take part, he says. They gave us advice, the cost of which we covered ourselves to receive the training and the material to prepare our own nepo. With this tool and their knowledge we made the didactic planning to apply it in the classrooms and it was a very successful experience..

With a simple base that allows children from all grades of primary and secondary school to access a mathematical calculation instrument that goes from units, tens and hundreds to billions, the nepo has even transcended the borders of our country.

In 2009, the Secretariat of Public Education published the Nepohualtzitzin teaching manual for the development of mathematical skillswhich recognizes its potential to impact the learning of operations in students in all six grades of primary school. It highlights that since 2002, its knowledge and use has reached the United States, Argentina and Greece, where it has been presented and disseminated at science meetings and competitions.

However, its implementation in Mexico has been slow, despite the fact that it is used by private schools.

Neural exercise

At the Inter-American Bilingual Institute of Mexico (IBIME) it has been used for five years as a neural exercise, in which memory, attention and retention, basic elements of the brain, are put into practicesays professor and founding director, Norma Angélica Romero Ramón.

At Ibime, the NEPO plays a central role in the academic training of its more than 4,000 preschool, primary, secondary and high school students, as they even have their own teaching materials that are used in classrooms at all educational levels for teaching mathematics.

Its success is reflected not only in the skills it promotes to develop its students’ mathematical abilities, but also in the results its students obtain in solving complex mathematical operations.

When I learned about Nepo and that it was ours, that it was developed by Mesoamerican cultures, I immediately realized its potential. We have been working with it at Ibime for five years and I can assure you that it greatly improves students’ mathematical reasoning and mental calculations.says Romero Ramón.

Her interest in spreading this instrument even led her to promote the making of the film Nepohualtzitzin system of mathematics: Ancestral wisdomwhich was nominated for best science documentary at the 2022 Crystal Screen Festival.

When we apply nepo in the classroom, he says, We see impressive results. Girls, boys and adolescents with a greater development of their intelligence and mental agility. And I can assure you that whoever takes this instrument seriously, and if there is support from the family and the student to practice, of course there is a before and after the nepo.