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Mathematics

Kittitas Valley Math Circle

Submitted by coveyte on Wed, 09/24/2014 - 09:38

Kittitas Valley Math Circle is a weekly math program for 2nd-6th grade students with their parents.

Click below to learn more:

What is a Math Circle?

A Math Circle is...

  • a fun and activity community for students, teachers and their parents to explore mathematical problem solving;
  • a place where people motivate each other to learn mathematics by sharing their love and enjoyment of the subject;
  • a place for students to take charge of finding the answer.

2nd through 6th Grade Students with their Parents

Join us for the Kittitas Valley Math Circle. Check out the 2017-2018 program:

  • Fall 2017 (Oct 3 - Oct 24): Topic to be announced
  • Winter 2018 (Jan 30 - Feb 27):  Topic to be announced
  • Spring 2018 (Apr 24- May 22): Topic to be announced

During the Math Circle sessions the students will meet weekly on Tuesdays (6:30-7:30pm) at the CESME Office - 3rd floor CWU Science II building.  Click here for a Google Map to the building.  Note, parking on campus is free after 4:30 pm and we would advise you to park in the O-5 lot, across the street from the Science Building (at the intersection of Wildcat Way and 14th Ave).  If you are in a handicap marked vehicle you can park in the marked spots close to Science II.

Students: Learn how to use mathematics!

Parents: Join us for two weeks to learn about the same games and to also join Central Professors Shiver and Rogan-Klyve to learn more about the mathematics behind the Common Core and other curriculum changes that your students are currently exploring at school. 

Apply Now!  We will only be able to accept the first 30 students who apply so apply soon!

Application Deadlines:

  • Fall 2017: Oct 2
  • Winter 2018: January 29
  • Spring 2018: April 23


Paperwork for Students:

 

Undergraduates are encouraged to apply to participate as Math Circle Leaders. 

Participating undergrad Math Circle leaders commit to:

  • participating in Math Circle Leader training:
    • Fall Training:  Sept 26, 6:00 - 8:00pm
    • Winter Training: January 23, 6:00 - 8:00pm
    • Spring Training: April 17, 6:00-8:00pm
  • assist at 15 Math Circle sessions

Undergraduate Math Circle Leaders applications are due Sept  25th, 2017.

If you are interested in serving as an undergrad Math Circle Leader we encourage you to apply in Spring 2016:

University Credit for Math Circle Leaders: There will be no university credit offered this fall (1 credit hour = 30 hours work, and we won’t be doing that much).  However, students participating will have preference in the selection of next year’s Math Circle Leaders, and will be eligible to receive university credit (in the form of independent study or internship work) then.

 

Other Math Circle Resources: 

If you are looking for other resources for young students we recommend:

Kittitas Valley Math Circle Leadership

Kittitas Valley Math Circle is sponsored by The Central Washington University Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESME), Central Washington University Department of Mathematics, Lincoln Elementary, and the National Association of Math Circles. This projects was partially supported by the CESME Faculty Program of Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA and the National Association of Math Circles Math Circle Grant program. 

Dr. Brandy Wiegers, Dr. Dominic Klyve coordinate the 4th/ 5th and 6th/7th Grade Student Programs.

Dr. Janet Shiver and Professor Allyson Rogan-Kylve coordinate the 4th/ 5th Grade Parent Program. 

 

Questions about Kittitas Valley Math Circle? 

Contact Central Washington Center for Excellence in Science & Mathematics Education (CESME):  Phone: 509-963-2135    email: cesme@cwu.edu

 


      

 

 

Dr. Brandy's Previous Math Circle Experience.

...I have been involved in many Math Circle projects across the Bay and greater US Area including serving as:

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San Joaquin Math Teachers' Circle

On October 22 I presented the 'Slide Rules Rule' lesson at the Math Teachers' Circle at San Joaquin Math Teachers' Circle.  This is a lesson I've been developing over the last several years and I really enjoyed the opportunity to share it with the SJMTC.  They added to the lesson by sharing the time and math with me and then going over the mathematical practices and pedagogical methods I used at the end. That was a really cool experience. They highlighted my addition of "wishful thinking" to their problem solving approaches list and talked about how I had started slow and kept the whole entire group moving forward during the lesson.

Basic gist... we start by putting the amazingness of the slide rule in context - we had an airplane and sent people to the moon prior to electronic computing like we think of it today. Instead we used slide rules, charts, and less significant digits (that's were good error estimation is important!)

From there we talk about the addition and multiplication tables and compare the properties of the addition table that are nice and we wish were in the multiplication table. Specifically the addition table has these beautiful lines of 1 number so you can travel along that line and see directly what number added to x equals that number.  We wish we had this linear property in the multiplication table. We rescale the multiplication to make this happen and surprise - we get the exponential scale that's used to make slide rules.

Yay!

From there we spend the rest of the day playing with slide rules! It's great fun.


Attachments: DSC06346.jpg | Multiplication_Table.png | PickettSlideRule4.pdf

Berkeley Math Circle, Tuesday October 18th
 I presented Mathematical Tilings to the Berkeley Math Circle on Tuesday October 18th. Thank you to Nina Cerutti and Leo Bardomero for the work to update the lessons from Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival.

San Francisco Math Circle - September 9th
I presented the Julia Robinson Tiling Torment lesson to the San Francisco Math Circle on Monday, Sept 9th. juliarobinsonmathfestival.org/problems/TilingTorment.pdf‎

Thank you to Joshua Zucker for the inspirational lesson that kicked off the new year just right! Also thank you to Courtney and Gina who cut out all the tiles so the students could keep it hands on and interactive!


 

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