Bard Math Circle in the News (bring your kids!)

Dear Friends,

The Bard Math Circle made the front page of today's Daily Freeman with a story about our math outreach activities at the Kingston Library. COUNTING ON FUN: Math Circle at Kingston Library takes middle school kids beyond boring basics (video) (Monday, January 17, 2011) http://dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/01/17/news/doc4d33674c5f430298712442.txt 

The Bard Math Circle meets twice per month at the Kingston Library with a program of math and logic games, problem solving and hands-on math activities, designed for middle school math students. Everyone is welcome! The next meeting will be on Saturday, February 12, 1-3pm.

The Bard Math Circle was previously featured here:

Las Noticias: Por el amor a las matemáticas (Wednesday, October 06, 2010)

http://www.lasnoticiasny.com/articles/2010/10/06/comunidad/doc4cacee4f1d7bd487053172.txt

and in our La Voz: Círculo de matemáticas en Kingston (Agosto 2010)

http://lavoz.bard.edu/archivo/archivo.php?id=10568

What is the Bard Math Circle?

The Bard Math Circle, which targets middle school and elementary school students in the Mid-Hudson Valley, was formed in 2007 by Bard College Professors Lauren Rose and Japheth Wood. The Bard Math Circle is run jointly by students, under Bard's Trustee Leader Scholar Program (http://inside.bard.edu/tls/), and math faculty at Bard College. Student leaders have included Shelley Stahl, Ezra Winston, Elias Halloran and currently Jackie Stone. Outreach activities have focused on Kingston and Tivoli.

In the summer of 2010, Bard hosted the New York Math Circle's Summer Workshop 2010 for teachers (http://nymathcircle.org/2010workshop). I brought (primarily NYC) middle school math teachers to Bard for a week-long residential math immersion experience. The workshop sessions were led by Bard math professors, and instructors from the New York Math Circle and the Albany Area Math Circle. The 2011 workshop, which is scheduled for the week of July 25-29, will welcome both middle school and high school math teachers to Bard.

The New York Math Circle was featured recently in the news on NY1, "NYC's 24-hour Newschannel on the web":

Bonus Curriculum Is Greatest Common Factor For Local Math Masters (12/26/2010)

http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/top_stories/131224/bonus-curriculum-is-greatest-common-factor-for-local-math-masters?ap=1&MP4&r=4320001457

Please let me know if you would like to participate in any of these activities!

Thanks,

Japheth Wood, PhD

Mathematics Faculty

Bard MAT Program

--
"If you can't solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it."
-George Polya

NY1 News Article about the New York Math Circle

The New York Math Circle was recently featured on NY1 ("NYC's 24-hour newschannel on the web"). Check out the video here:

Bonus Curriculum Is Greatest Common Factor For Local Math Masters

Many thanks to TV reporter Shazia Khan for pursuing this topic! She got in touch with the New York Math Circle (NYMC) and I helped coordinate the filming. What came out in the video was filmed in late October, and shows an amalgam of the middle school and high school classes that day.
I learned a lot about how much effort the parents make to get their children to these high-quality math enrichment classes. Some devote their entire Saturdays to shuttling their children from activity to activity, and see it as an investment in the future.
There was one notable exception that truly impressed me - one of the middle school students takes the subway train all the way from the Bronx for class on his own. He was clearly having a great time at the class, and it completely shows in his interview. Can you spot him in the video?
The TV news reporter, Shazia, also had a lot of fun visiting the New York Math Circle, and is interested in covering further stories in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Eduction. You can see more of her videos here: Shazia Khan news clips
If you know of a good story for Shazia, please leave a comment, and I'll make sure your idea gets passed on!

New York Math Circle Summer Workshop 2009

The New York Math Circle had its first summer workshop last week, July 27-30, 2009 at Union College in Schenectady, New York. This workshop for middle school math teachers was organized by Japheth Wood (Bard College) and sponsored by the New York Math Circle. Many thanks to the Math Teachers' Circle Network for help with initial planning last summer, and to the Albany Math Circle for local assistance and encouragement.

View pictures in Japheth's online Photo Album.

Workshop Math Schedule:

Monday, July 27th

Informal Math Activities at College Park Hall

• Mary O'Keeffe showed us hangmath and other intriguing games.

Tuesday, July 28th

Walking Tour with Mary O'Keeffe:

• History and math walks in Schenectady
• Charles Proteus Steinmetz: mathematical wizard of Schenectady
• A Pythagorean temple

Peg Smith workshop, "The Five Practices"

• Orchestrating Discussions, Margaret S. Smith, Elizabeth K. Hughes, Randi A. Engle and Mary Kay Stein, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, May 2009, Volume 14, Issue 9, Page 548.
• Thinking through a Lesson: Successfully Implementing High-Level Tasks, Margaret S. Smith, Victoria Bill and Elizabeth K. Hughes, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, October 2008, Volume 14, Issue 3, Page 132.
  
• Electronic presentation.

David Hankin workshop

• Jesse's notes: David Hankin Quotes and David Hankin Questions, many of them good & big ones.
• Geometric Transformations by I.M. Yaglom is a great reference.
  

Informal Math Activities

• Hard Problems Documentary
• Polydrons
• Zome Tools
• Tantrix puzzle
  

Wednesday, July 29th

Walking Tour with Mary O'Keeffe (see Tuesday for details)

Larry Zimmerman's workshop

• Jesse's notes: Larry Zimmerman Quotes & Notes and Larry Zimmerman Plus.

Mary O'Keeffe workshop, Playing Patterns to Infinity"

• Mary frequently mentioned Richard Feynman's books and videos.
• Jesse's notes: Mary O'Keeffe Quotes and Mary O'Keeffe Best Games Ever.

Informal Math Activities (see Tuesday for details)

Thursday, July 30th

Sheila Krilov workshop, "How to Start and Run a Math Team"

• Electronic presentation
• Middle School Math Contest Web Sites
  
• The Problem Sheet (some of the math symbols don't show well).
  
• Diagram for Problem #10
• Columbus State University Math Contest Sampler

Blogs:

Mary O'Keeffe is a professor at Union College, and an organizer of the Albany Math Circle. She contributed a wonderful collection of mathematics, games, activities and ideas to the week. Her blog documents much of this:

• Mary mentioned Richard Feynman's books and videos.
• Mary organized two wonderful History and math walks in Schenectady.
• Details from the walks: Charles Proteus Steinmetz: mathematical wizard of Schenectady.
• Details from the walks: A Pythagorean temple.
• A popular activity from Monday evening: Hangmath.

Jesse Johnson is an awesome and enthusiastic math teacher in NYC, and shared her notes on her blog Math Be Brave.

• David Hankin Quotes.
• David Hankin Questions, many of them good & big ones.
• Mary O'Keeffe Quotes.
• Mary O'Keeffe Best Games Ever.
• Sites of the Day.
• Larry Zimmerman Quotes & Notes.
• Larry Zimmerman Plus.