INEW Math - Share and Discover!

I Can Get Your Kid into an Ivy League School

2007-10-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

Michele Hernandez boasts that 95% of her teenage clients are accepted by their first-choice school. Her price: As much as $40,000 a student.

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Math Makeover: State Requirements Could Change Local Teaching Methods

2007-09-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

Bushaw and Pat Herzig, a math teacher on special assignment with upper grades in the Bremerton district, both said that the early instruction doesn't need to solely come from the classroom. Parent involvement and encouragement, even in simple ways, can be effective.

Herzig said that just as children need to be read to so that they'll become adept readers, children also need to be "mathed to."

"Parents can play games where the student keeps score, find math in the kitchen and garage, and on shopping trips," Herzig said. "Never say, 'I was bad at math.'"

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Getting kids excited about math

2007-09-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

Count da Money is ironing his cape; the MAC-Ro Queen is polishing her crown; and the Calculating Cowboy is saddling his horse. What are these costumed school superintendents preparing for?

A new school year with another chance to get their students excited about learning math.

This all-out enthusiasm from school administrators is just one step in their districts' commitment to the Math Achievement Club by Rodel (MAC-Ro). MAC-Ro is an initiative of the Rodel Foundation of Arizona that employs a fun and motivating way for elementary students to learn math. More than 24,000 Arizona students in seven counties will participate in MAC-Ro this year

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N. Canton educator named Haywood County's top math teacher

2007-09-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

CANTON - The North Carolina Council for Teachers of Mathematics recently named North Canton Elementary School teacher Jill Mann as Haywood County Schools Elementary Math Teacher of the Year.

Mann was nominated for the award by the principal and staff of North Canton Elementary. She will be honored at a luncheon at the annual NCCTM conference in October in Greensboro.

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Math Wonder - Danica McKellar Is Counting on Girls to Love Numbers

2007-07-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

“Who did I think math was for, if it wasn't for me?”

To help girls struggling with the complexity that comes with seventh-grade math, McKellar has penned Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, which hits shelves this August.

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Fifth grade Math Masters

2007-06-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sarah has a 6th floor apartment in a building that does not have an elevator. There are 16 stairs between each floor and the entrance to the building is on the first floor. On Tuesday, Sarah left her apartment, went to work, came home from work to put her coat in her apartment, and then went down to the third floor to visit a friend. She went back to her apartment for the rest of the evening. How many stairs up and down did Sarah take in her apartment building on Tuesday?

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Math problems hurt your head? To this whiz kid, they're play

2007-06-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

"I was always fascinated with recognizing patterns and playing with numbers since I can remember," says Elizabeth, who hints that a career in mathematics or linguistics might be on her horizon. "My favorite classes at Voyagers are obviously math, and it's that mathematical part of language that has me interested in linguistics so much."

Even as a toddler, she demonstrated a mathematical curiosity far beyond her years. Her mother, Laura Yaker, a Dartmouth College-trained computer scientist, recalls observing Elizabeth playing with manipulative blocks, commonly used in math education, with obvious delight at age 2.

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Spelling bee champ is a math whiz too

2007-06-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

Evan M. O'Dorney, 13, of San Ramon, Ca., accepts his trophy from Kenneth W. Lowe, president of the E.W. Scripps Company, after he won the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington with the word "serrefine" on Thursday, May 31, 2007.

"My favorite things to do were math and music, and with the math I really like the way the numbers fit together," he said. "And with the music I like to let out ideas by composing notes — and the spelling is just a bunch of memorization."

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Can you solve Rubik's Cube in less than 14 seconds?

2007-06-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

Then you should head to the U.S. Rubik's Cube Open in Chicago

"I believe anybody can solve it. Believing you have to be some kind of genius is a stereotype that came out of the '80s."

More important than smarts, he said, is a willingness to practice.

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Educational games

2007-06-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

INEW has just added a collection of educational games like Sudoku, 24 Puzzle, Hangaroo, Frog Mania, Mastermind, Wuzi Chess, Auqaphobic, Perfect Match, Blooming Gardens, Bad Apple, Spark Your Neurons, Puzzled Jigsaw, Slider Mania, Cubic Rubic, Rush Hour, 3D Logic, and many more.

Please visit INEW Educational Games section. Enjoy!

Math problems from Canada

2006-02-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

1) How many addition signs should be put between digits of the number 987654321 and where should we put them to get a total of 99?

2) Divide the face of the clock into three parts with two lines so that the sum of the numbers in the three parts are equal.

3) According to experts the first 4 moves in a chess game can be played in 197299 totally different ways. If it takes 30 seconds to make one move, how long would it take one player to try every possible set of 4 moves?

4) Batman has been imprisoned by the Riddler. To escape he must find the quickest way to move the tower of plutonium disks from one post to another so that the disks have the same arrangement as on the original post. He may move only one disk at a time. What is the minimum number of moves he must make in order to move the ten disk tower and have it appear the same?

5) A man has to be at work by 9:00 a.m. and it takes him 15 minutes to get dressed, 20 minutes to eat and 35 minutes to walk to work. What time should he get up?

Home-schooled kids excel in math competition

2006-02-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

One of the most exciting parts of the competition is the group project. Playing on the popularity of the TV series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, four-student teams use their math skills to design a back yard with a pool and spa, estimate the amount of carpet, paint and blinds to buy and the best place to get it. Once the decisions are made, the design team has to provide a written explanation for the answers.

"He's very self-motivated. He wants to do his best," Michelle said. "We just try to keep up the best we can."

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Case High students are first place in math

2006-02-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

RACINE — Quick: How many positive two-digit numbers are multiples of three but have no digit that is a multiple of three?

Members of Case High School’s math team had three minutes to answer a question like the one above — and two others — during a recent national competition. And, they pulled it off.

The team found out Friday they placed first among other high schools from across the country to win the the 2005 Ciphering Time Trials, a national mathematics competition contest administered by National Assessment & Testing.

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Ohio Students participate in math competition

2006-02-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

AKRON - Ninety-four students from 15 area middle schools participated in this year's Akron-area MATHCOUNTS competition at the University of Akron Student Union on Saturday.
Copley-Fairlawn and Revere middle schools took first and second place, respectively. They will compete at the state competition in Columbus on March 11.
Individual qualifiers for the state competition include Karan Bains, Old Trail School, Bath Township; Mitch Tomazic, Claggett Middle School, Medina; Timothy Murphy and Megan Flinta, Kimpton Middle School in Stow-Munroe Falls schools; Alex Stopar, Copley-Fairlawn Middle School; and Alex Szymborski, Holy Family School, Stow.

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Math Teacher Receives Award for Bookless Classroom

2005-11-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

For Mangus, success was evident when he started teaching math on computers nearly a decade ago. His fifth-grade students' test scores were 20 percent higher than their peers statewide after using the computer math program.
Mangus says computer math allows students to do an unlimited number of problems and they know immediately if they are doing them right. Those who understand concepts quickly move on and those who don't, get individual help.

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Math gap grows for minority students

2005-11-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

While state and local education officials trumpet annual gains made on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, a review of test results over the past few years shows that the achievement gap between white and minority students is widening in math scores.

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Valerie Elementary student is queen of the spelling bee

2006-02-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Christine is a two-time city chess champion in her age group, is a member of Valerie's robotics team and won the school's punt, pass and kick competition.

She also swims, does karate, plays piano and loves math. Her math and science teacher, Marcella Barrett, was in the audience.

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Math Counts Competition

2006-02-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Shelly Smola/Irving Math Teacher: "I have students that are intrinsically motivated already. They are so excited about math. They come in with the attitude that they want to learn, and when you have that attitude you can do anything."

Scott Welch, Irving 5th overall: "Study hard, take time, don't do it just once in a long time, just do it every single night, study as much as you can."

Of course this just isn't any competition, Math Counts is a contest that stretches the mind while teaching life long problem solving skills.

Shelly Smola/Irving Math Teacher: "In a lot math classes we don't get the opportunity, because we have so little time in the day to discuss higher level problems with kids, and this is wonderful because students with higher level reasoning - every aspect of life they will be more successful."

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Parents don't see a crisis over science and math

2006-02-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

Science and math have zoomed to the top of the nation's education agenda. Yet Amanda Cook, a parent of two school-age girls, can't quite see the urgency.

"In Maine, there aren't many jobs that scream out 'math and science,"' said Cook, who lives in Etna, in the central part of the state. Yes, both topics are important, but "most parents are saying you're better off going to school for something there's a big need for."

Nationwide, a new poll shows, many parents are content with the science and math education their children get -- a starkly different view than that held by national leaders.

Fifty-seven percent of parents say "things are fine" with the amount of math and science being taught in their child's public school. High school parents seem particularly content -- 70 percent say their child gets the right amount of science and math.

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Teacher instilled passion for math

2006-02-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

John ''Johnny'' Williams loved math and tried to instill his fascination with numbers in the thousands of students he taught during his 30 years as a Miami-Dade public school math teacher.

``I didn't like math very much before that, but the way he taught, always using different strategies, really made me like math. I was so glad he was here. He was always so full of life.''

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It pays to be a math teacher!

2006-02-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

"Math For America" selects college grads with strong math qualifications. The first year, they get $28,000 dollars and a scholarship to work full-time for a master's degree in math education.

Over next four years, they get $62,000 dollars on top of their teacher's salary to teach math in New York City public schools.

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Middle school students win math competition

2006-02-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

A team of middle school mathletes" from the Cooperative Middle School in Stratham won the Regional MATHCOUNTS competition held at the University of New Hampshire on Feb. 4. The top individual was David Xiao, also from the Cooperative Middle School.
Members of the winning team were: Daniel Lemeyer, Grant Levy, Emily Meade and David Xiao, led by coach Joshua Frost. Xiao, Meade, and Levy also placed as the first, second, and third respective top scoring individuals. The team will now advance to the state competition to be held in Plymouth in March.

The second and third place teams were Oyster River from Durham, and Timberlane Regional from Plaistow, respectively. MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide math enrichment, coaching and competition program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students. Over 6 million students across the U.S. have participated in the MATHCOUNTS program.

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Students show off math skills at competition

2006-02-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Kyle Hendrix trained nearly every day during the past month for the competition on Saturday.

The training paid off as Hendrix, a fourth-grade student at Woodland Elementary School, advanced to the finals in the countywide All-Star Math competition.

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Singapore Math Program Used in Madison

2006-02-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

Toy blocks are easy for little kids to understand, and that's why they're being used in this first grade math class.

Luke Felker is teaching these Madison first graders Math, through something called the Singapore program.

It's the same thing high–achieving Singapore students have been using for years, and it teaches kids using simple things like blocks.

Then it introduces word problems and eventually moves students into complex math problems they can do in their heads.

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Fibonacci poems multiply on the Web

2006-04-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Blogs
spread
gossip
and rumor
But how about a
Rare, geeky form of poetry?

That's exactly what happened after Gregory K. Pincus, a screenwriter and aspiring children's book author in Los Angeles, wrote a post on his GottaBook blog several weeks ago inviting readers to write "Fibs," six-line poems that used a mathematical progression known as the Fibonacci sequence to dictate the number of syllables in each line. (Number of syllables in line: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...)

Within a few days, Pincus, 41, had received about 30 responses, a large portion of them Fibonacci poems. Most of them were from friends or relatives or people who regularly read his blog, which focuses on children's literature.

Then, on April 7, a subscriber to the popular Web site Slashdot.org--which runs over a tagline that reads "News for nerds. Stuff that matters"--linked to Pincus' original post, and suddenly, it seemed, Fibs were sprouting all over the Internet.

The allure of the form is that it is simple, yet restricted. The number of syllables in each line must equal the sum of the syllables in the two previous lines. So, start with 0 and 1, add them together to get your next number, which is also 1; 2 comes next; then add 2 and 1 to get 3; and so on. Pincus structured the Fibs to top out at line six, with eight syllables.

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