Weeks 1 and 2 live online events

Join parents, teachers, and researchers interested in math circles for two live, highly interactive online events. Week 1: Julia Brodsky will give a brief introduction to the Art of Inquiry project, its math circles, and the Open Minds book. Week 2: Julia Brodsky will discuss preliminary summaries from the Open Minds course. During both events, course participants and guests from the Math Future network will stir the discussions with questions, answers, and suggestions. The goal is to inspire, to share know-how, and to exchange resources about problem-solving.

Before the event, read this: Math circle philosophy and teaching suggestions.

Week 1 event

Here is the full recording of the event. You need Java to play it. The download progress bar and the Play button are at the bottom of the screen.

Here are some of the questions we discussed during the event.

• Axelle: Some kids in the video are using words such as "easy", "obvious", and I was wondering how that affects another kid who potentially may not find the task that easy, would that shut them down? What experience do you have with that?
• Michal: Please elaborate a little on the relationship between main stream math teaching and problem solving approach. How can they be integrated on a basic level, or basic math is still a basic math from your perspective?
• Maria Droujkova: Have you ever left a kid with an unanswered question? How does it make you feel?
• Michal: My biggest concern in homeschool setting is that if I do not want to prepare all class on my own and want to follow an existing program, I don't know a math program that supports creative problem solving, and all the approaches that Julia mentioned.
• Stephanie: What are some useful strategies for helping children who tend towards perfectionism learn how to enjoy the struggle you discussed earlier? Both of my daughters freeze up when they are faced with any kind of time pressure. This is an issue because both are interested in joining in math contests, where there are time limits. We've discussed this a great deal and they seem caught between the desire to be accurate and the need to be speedy.
• Axelle: Is there a value in introducing heuristics, or is it better to let kids come up with their own strategies without ever introducing one they may not have thought about?
• Elmstreetschool: Can you define heuristics?
• Targhee: Can you elaborate on how to model making, noticing, and resolving mistakes?
• Iskra: What happens if the young children aren't 'curious' and are not interested in problem solving? My younger son (6) is perfectly happy with routine math exercises, but as soon as he sees an interesting problem that doesn't follow the pattern of previous problems, he has an immediate temper tantrum with real tears.
• Keetgi: Hi! Here's my question: is there a guideline to how long we should let our kids struggle and work through the "stuck" phase on their own?
• Jwessman: What do you feel is the ideal timetable for this kind of thing? Should we be trying to meet as a math circle once a week, or spread it out over the year by meeting once a month?

Week 2 event

Full recording of the event.