COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL BASED TEACHING-LEARNING RESOURCES

Meaning of Community Resources

  Resources available in the community which can be utilized to teach effectively are called community resources. Here teaching of the mathematical concepts with in the four walls will not correlate school with the daily life of the students. To make the teaching more interesting and meaningful, a teacher must utilize the resources, resourcefulness and material around him. A student learns better with interest, curiosity when teaching is related to his surroundings.

Moreover the teacher need not spend much money to utilize such things. This approach brings the school out of its isolation and connects with worthy aspect of community life.

          Community resources are the resource which available in the community out of the school.  The resources are known as public library, museum, industries, radio, TV, planetarium, hospitals, and mathematics centers etc. Some time the available resources can be utilizing for chemistry  teaching for various reasons as the material may not be available in the school, storage of the resources, non function of resources, may be unable to purchase or not possible to bring to school and any other.

     When we look around us, we see so many things which once used for some purpose but now turned into wastes. A broken device, a discarded worn-up item, a dismantled machine part, broken porcelains and packing and packages used for all type of items turn into wastes. As for specific examples, common waste materials those can be used in mathematics teaching cover a very wide range from a discarded injection syringe, fused electric bulb, tube light, tubes and tyres, empty packets of cigarettes and other items, metal cans, match boxes, bottles, packaging materials to a condemned vehicle.

    School is a primary society. Resources obtained from the society, community are helpful in teaching Mathematics.

      Community resource is essential for the developmental progress of the school, because there is relationship between one community resources to the other. The effective use of economical resource helps in all round progress of the school.

     The main discussion of community resources are,

1. Humanitarian resource: Retired Mathematics teachers, mathematicians/Scientists, and scientific thinkers form   humanitarian resources.
2. Physical resources: Natural wealth is included in physical resources. Ex. Lakes, pools, buildings, ancient temples, mosques, churches, and other important buildings. The mathematical aspects in these buildings may be investigated and identified.
3. Economic resource:  Private Banks, trade and commerce centers are the centers of economic resources. Social resource is essential for the developmental progress of the school because there is relationship between one social resources to the other. The effective use of economic resource helps in all round progress of the school.

Benefits of community resource:

1.       Students use things available from the surroundings to prepare mathematics teaching learning materials like models, real things etc. can be used for teaching mathematics.

2.       Helps students to develop special interest in learning mathematics.

3.       Creativity will be emphasized.

4.       Helps to identify students who really have the mathematics bent of mind.

5.       Helps students to develop qualities such as co-operation, patience and tolerance.

6.       Helps students to apply their knowledge and skills in everyday life.

 WHAT IS A COMMUNITY ASSET/RESOURCE?

     Our definition is broad. A community asset (or community resource, a very similar term) is anything that can be used to improve the quality of community life. And this means:

       It can be a person -- Residents can be empowered to realize and use their abilities to build and transform the community. The stay-at-home mom or dad who organizes a playgroup. The informal neighborhood leader. The firefighter who risks his life to keep the community safe. These are all community assets.

       It can be a physical structure or place -- a school, hospital, church, library, recreation center, and social club. It could be a town landmark or symbol. It might also be an unused building that could house a community hospice, or a second floor room ideal for community meetings. Or it might be a public place that already belongs to the community -- a park, a wetland, or other open space.

       It can be a community service that makes life better for some or all community members - public transportation, early childhood education center, community recycling facilities, cultural organization.

It can be a business that provides jobs and supports the local economy.

      You and everyone else in the community are potential community assets. Everyone has some skills or talents, and everyone can provide knowledge about the community, connections to the people they know, and the kind of support that every effort needs - making phone calls, stuffing envelopes, giving people information, moving equipment or supplies - whatever needs doing. This suggests that everyone in the community can be a force for community improvement if only we knew what their assets were, and could put them to use.

One student of communities, John McKnight, has noted:

"Every single person has capacities, abilities and gifts. Living a good life depends on whether those capacities can be used, abilities expressed and gifts given."

WHY SHOULD YOU IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

        They can be used as a foundation for community improvement.

External resources (e.g., federal and state money) or grants may not be available. Therefore, the resources for change must come from within each community.

Identifying and mobilizing community assets enables community residents to gain control over their lives.

       Improvement efforts are more effective, and longer-lasting, when community members dedicate their time and talents to changes they desire.

      You can't fully understand the community without identifying its assets. Knowing the community's strengths makes it easier to understand what kinds of programs or initiatives might be possible to address the community's needs.

        When efforts are planned on the strengths of the community, people are likely to feel more positive about them, and to believe they can succeed. It's a lot easier to gain community support for an effort that emphasizes the positive - "We have the resources within our community to deal with this, and we can do it!" - than one that stresses how large a problem is and how difficult it is to solve.

WHO SHOULD IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

        Community members of all stripes and from all sectors should be involved in identifying assets. One reason here is the commitment to participatory process that you'll find in most Community Tool Box sections. An even more important one, however, is that community members from a broad range of groups and populations are far more likely to identify assets that may not be apparent to everyone. The community's perception of what constitutes an asset or a resource is at least as legitimate as the "standard" list of institutions and people with specific skills.

     A number of garbage-strewn, overgrown empty lots in a neighborhood can be seen as an eyesore and a neighborhood shame. But those lots can also be seen as open space that can be turned into playgrounds, pocket parks, and farmers' markets with volunteer labor that in itself provides a neighborhood community-building opportunity. Community perception is crucial, because seeing something as an asset can make it possible to use it as one.

WHEN SHOULD WE IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

    EVERY DAY. BUT HERE ARE SOME SITUATIONS WHEN IT'S ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE TO DO SO:

When you are conducting a community assessment and need to find assets to mobilize to address community needs.

    When the community includes talented and experienced citizens whose skills are valuable but underutilized.

    When you can't provide traditional services, even if you wanted to, and are looking for other ways to build up the community.

    When you want to encourage residents to take pride in and responsibility for local concerns and improvements.

   When you want to strengthen existing relationships and build new ones that will promote successful community development in the future.

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

      The techniques for identifying community assets aren't very hard. You don't need a lot of special training or expertise to do the job well.

      Before you begin, though, you do need to answer some important questions. You can do this yourself, in the privacy of your own home. But we recommend strongly do so before you start. Here they are:

What is the size of the community you're concerned with?

An entire county? Town? Neighborhood? Housing development?

      The bigger the community, the more work is involved - and you might need and probably different study methods for a large community than for a small one.

What people are available to do the work?

    An individual? A small group of people? A larger organization? If you're starting out alone, it makes sense to reach out to others, get them excited about the project, and recruit them to work with you. (Unless your community is very small, identifying all or most of its assets is a big job for one person).

How much time do you have for the task or how much time can you allow?

Tonight?  A week?  A month? As much time as it takes?

The more time you have, the more assets you will be able to uncover.

What financial resources, if any, can you count on to support the work?

If available, resources for copying or printing and to support human resources (time) can be helpful.

What do you want to do with the results?

Will they be posted in an online directory? Contacted about an opportunity to take action? If so, what action, and how?

WHAT COMES NEXT?

     There are different approaches to identifying community assets. Each can be valid and useful. Which approach is right for you? The answer will depend in large part on your answers to the starting questions above. So, once again, answer them before you start.

       But below are two basic approaches you could use in your own community. They complement each other. One of them focuses on the assets of groups -- specifically, associations, organizations, and institutions. The other focuses on individual people.

IDENTIFYING THE ASSETS OF GROUPS

       The central task here is to take an inventory of all the groups (associations, organizations, and institutions) that exist in your community. You want to make a list. But how do you figure out what goes on the list in the first place? Some suggestions follow:

      Start the list with what you know. Write down anything that comes to mind. You can always correct your list later.

      You can do this work by yourself; but it might be more useful and fun to work with others. Are there other people who could join you and make this a group project?

This is a great project for students or interns.

USE OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION TO ADD TO YOUR LIST.

       Community websites. Many cities and towns have their own websites, as do other community agencies. These can not only give you information about community resources, but also give you the names of people you can contact who might know a great deal more.

The yellow pages

Town directories, published for your community alone.

Lists of businesses, probably available from the chamber of commerce.

Lists of organizations and institutions that are not generally published. For example, your local newspaper may have its own unpublished list that it could make available to you.

Bulletin boards. Physical or virtual bulletin boards and community-calendar type listings.

Your friends and colleagues. They may know about other lists available. And even if they don't, they may know of groups, organizations, and community assets that are not on anybody else's lists.

Refine and revise your list.

       You can also break your list down in several different ways: alphabetically, geographically, by function, etc.

        You now have an inventory of groups and group assets in your community -- the associations, organizations, and institutions that are a fundamental part of community life and that can be used for community improvement. That's an important step.

But what do you do now?

       It's possible to put these assets on a map. For more information on how to do this, see the heading on Mapping Community Assets, coming up.

It's now desirable to think about how your list (or map) of assets could be used. See the heading on Using Community Assets, toward the end of this section.

IDENTIFYING THE ASSETS OF INDIVIDUALS

      Compiling a list of key groups is one approach for identifying community assets. Another approach is to compile the assets of individuals. This can be challenging, because:

     There are many more people than groups. To survey large numbers of people will take a lot of time.

We often don't know people's assets unless we ask them. Their abilities and talents are often unknown. When listing organizations, you often immediately know what that group is about. But we probably won't know what individuals' talents and skills are until we ask them. That takes more time.

For both these reasons, identifying individual assets often takes place over a smaller community area such as a neighborhood.

Community Resources uses in mathematics

1. To appropriate teaching and learning resources are present in classroom;
2. To appropriate teaching and learning resources are being used.
3. Teachers are confident in the students’ use of resources.
4. To provide for a range of student abilities.
5. To allow for the application and extension of student skills.
6. To be visually attractive to teach.
7. To facilitate independent and cooperative work.
8. To have learning activities and outcomes that are consistent with the achievement objectives.