Bonus Curriculum Is Greatest Common Factor For Local Math Masters
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One assessment found the United States ranks 35th in math skills worldwide, but one group of students and teachers in the city is working to change that equation by thinking outside the standard school curriculum. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report on a facet of the Connect A Million Minds initiative, which was designed by NY1 and its parent company Time Warner Cable to motivate students to become more involved in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).On Saturday mornings, a group of children in Greenwich Village are in math class by choice. For 12-year-old Jourdain Gaines, it adds up perfectly.
"I enjoy math a lot. I knew my multiplication numbers when I entered second grade," says Jourdain.
He is a member of the New York Math Circle, a not-for-profit group open to middle school and high school students. Rather than being a tutoring service, it engages children in mathematics material beyond the school curriculum.
"We are focused on kids who really want to take it to the limit, who already have mastered everything that their school has to offer and want to see mathematics they won't get in the school," says Japheth Wood, an organizer for New York Math Circle.
"It makes you have to know the material really well and use it creatively," says student Victor Miglo.
"At my school they do math that is more challenging, but I learn something way different here," says Jourdain.
New York Math Circle meets primarily in college classrooms around the city. Recently at New York University, the high school group was tackling the proof of Heron's formula, a calculation used to determine the area of a triangle, given only the lengths of its sides.
"The New York Math Circle is very problem-focused. These aren't simple exercises you can just crank out," says Wood. "These are problems that require a high level of creativity and connections between the topic at hand and previous knowledge."
"I'm learning something that many people don't know and it's a real privilege to know it," says student Nicol Shoup.
For the teachers' part, they say working with students who share their enthusiasm for mathematics is energizing.
"I always say that the students motivate the teachers as much as the teacher motivates the students. So when you are working with kids who you don't have to convince that this is fun and that this is interesting and who pick up what you have to say, well, that makes you much more enthusiastic about what you are doing," says David Hankin, an instructor for New York Math Circle.
For more information on the group, visit www.nymathcircle.org. Class fees start at about $200 and financial aid is also available to those who qualify.
For more information on other programs designed to inspire children through science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), visit ConnectAMillionMinds.com.