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.