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seaben

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Posts posted by seaben

    Teaching math to gifted learners

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    Thanks a lot. I'll be designing and implementing "fun and educational" activities for teaching middle school and high school students too, so I greatly appreciate anything which fits that bill also. :)

     

    I have a bunch of writeups of pre-algebra level group activities and how they went.  If you're interested my year end summary is here: http://bit.ly/2sjuO2G and it has links to you can browse off of there. (I'm a bit free form in the summer so there are some more random recent posts.)

    • Like 1

    Middle School Math Club

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    I guess the issue is whether it will be a math circle where kids explore concepts and at depths they would never experience in school, or something like super Kunon that simply reinforces skills. The new 7th grader has been in a rigorous circle for 4 years. His circle is modeled after Berkeley's Math Circle.  Here is a link to Berkeley's..http://mathcircle.berkeley.edu/books   Quite frankly, it it were simply super Kunon, I think his circle would fold.  Almost all of the kids in his circle are mathematically  2-3 years advanced..  

     

    Thanks for the book recommendation. It just arrived yesterday and I was already inspired after my quick read of the preface and 1st chapter. 

     

    I was motivated enough to put up a quick book review if anyone else is interested: http://bit.ly/2sZjH0x

    • Like 1

    Middle School Math Club

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    Hi,

    After several years of doing an Elementary School Math Club, I'm switching to the Middle School level. I was curious if anyone else here is running one for 6th-8th graders? Right now, I'm trying to decide on the focus and structure going forward. The big existential question is whether to continue running like a math circle with occasional contests like AMC or MathCounts or to adopt a new format. There's the pre-canned MathCounts material but that doesn't thrill me much.   Other questions I've been pondering:

     

    * Will the kids be more focused because they are a  few years older, or less because they're teenagers?

    * Could I get them to research and present on a short topic or would that be too large of a commitment.

    * How long of a problem set will they typically sit for before losing focus?  

    * I've used candy (rather shamelessly) to reward kids for bringing back completed problems of the week.  Is that appropriate for older kids?

    * Generally what's the best approach if I get a large skill range: it could be as wide as Math 6 to Algebra II.

     

    Thanks

     

    Starting a MOEMS team?

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted · Edited by seaben

    I've coached a MOEMS team for many years now.  I would say MOEMS is basically homeschool agnostic, though they really prefer to deal with regular schools.  

     

    We only meet once a month, and I usually have anywhere between 3 and 10 students on a team.  I charge $10 to participate, but it doesn't really cover all my costs, as you mentioned, primarily registration and printing the exams.   I don't want money to be a reason not to join us.

     

    Back when I had more time, I would hold 2 practice meetings in September and October so folks could try it out.  I'd print out an old exam from volume 2.  Then in October I'd ask for folks to pay to commit.  I don't often have students drop out.  It's only once a month, and people know what they are getting into when they register.  

     

    You need to schedule your exam sometime after the official exam date posted on the website.  It seems some "learning centers" would offer the exam and students would learn the solutions before taking the exam at their regular schools.  Sometimes performance on MOEMS exams will determine placement in advanced math classes, encouraging cheating.  Which is why it's better to keep your head down as a homeschooler and not make too many waves with them.  I always feel like a 2nd class citizen to the regular schools, but OTOH, I've never really had a problem with them as a homeschooler.  

     

    I schedule an hour at the library for each meeting.  We begin by taking the exam.  Then I have the students turn in their exams and I open the doors, so parents can start to trickle in.  The 2nd half hour we discuss the exam we just took.  I ask students how they solved each problem, and they describe their solution as I draw on the white board.  Often there is more than one solution.  Sometimes I add the official MOEMS solution to the discussion.  At the end of the meeting I hand out another copy of the blank exam with solutions for the students to do at home.  (MOEMS HQ does not like having digital copies available.)  

     

    I take the exams home and grade them and email the parents with the students current and cumulative scores.  I log in to the MOEMS website and enter the students scores.

     

    I really love MOEMS because there aren't that many opportunities for elementary students to learn how to do competition math.  (Math Kangaroo comes to mind.)  Also, MOEMS is unusual in that the exams are monthly, not annual, so the students get to know each other and learn from each other as the school year goes on.  It's only an hour (or a half hour...I let students leave early if they have another commitment) once a month, so easy for a lot of people to schedule.  

     

    I don't do anything supplemental beyond review the questions the students have just taken.  If I had time to do a weekly MOEMS meetup, I'd just have them take an old practice test and review it.  Then once a month we'd take the MOEMS officially and report the scores.

     

    Now that my kids are aging out of MOEMS, I have them proctor the exams for the younger kids and they lead the discussion, so there's good public speaking practice as well.

     

    ETA: In April, they mail you an award package consisting of certificates, patches, pins and trophies.  Everyone gets something.  Then I schedule an award ceremony, potluck, combined elementary and middle school, to pass out awards and celebrate.  It's really quite nice.  

     

    Overall, I've found MOEMS to be a big part of our homeschooling experience, and I'm rather fond of the organization.  Please LMK if you have further questions.  

     

    ETA:  I also want to add that if the registration fees are too high, it's super easy to host your own MOEMS season using old exams you photocopy from volumes 2 and 3.  While the awards that MOEMS provides are nice, they aren't all that, and you can print out your own certificates at the end of the year.  You can even make up your own rules.  

     

    I just wanted to second the structure above. I've been doing MOEMS for 3 years and discussing the problems as soon as the test is over works out really well. The kids usually are never as excited to find out the answers and discuss their ideas than right in the moment.

     

    Also since I've tended to have 10-15 kids who never finish at the same time, its really useful to have a quiet light weight activity or game to give out to the early finishers to work on so they don't distract the others.

     

     

    AOPS algebra book overlaps

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    I had question for those who have already done both AOPS algebra books. It looks like after about chapter 15 in the intro book, all the topics are repeated in the intermediate book. Is it valuable to do them twice i.e. is the material very different or would it make sense to skip to the intermediate book once you finish the sections on quadratics.

     

    Beast 5B question

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    Assuming  I understand this correctly. Given two numbers x and y, there always is some gcf and you can rewrite both as a multiple of that gcf and the remaining parts k1 and k2 are relatively prime (you can think of them as a product of primes themselves if that makes it easier). 

     

    i..e   x = k1 * gcf  and y = k2 * gcf   

     

    Then when subtract the two the distributive law says the difference will still be a multiple of the gcf.

     

    i.e. assume x is greater than y

    x - y = k1 * gcf - k2 * gcf = (k1 - k2) * gcf

     

    So this difference definitely shares the original gcf  as a common factor with both original numbers x and  y. And the gcf must still be the greatest common factor for the inverse reason. If the other part of the product k1 - k2 contained another factor > 1 with either number then this factor would have to have been in  both originals via the distributive law and we'd have a contradiction with the original gcf  being the greatest factor.

     

    This looks a bit formal on rereading so I hope this helps.

    • Like 2

    HELP! Beast Academy is HARD!

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    Another thing to consider is trying to use questions rather than just hints when someone gets stuck. I always like asking what have you thought of so far, where are you stuck? What does this problem remind you of etc.  What would make this easier? The process is very tactical and you kind of adjust as you go along.

     

    • Like 5

    Helping DD find her "tribe"

    in Accelerated Learner Board

    Posted

    I'd recommend reading Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality by Edward Frenkel. The author describes being in very a similar position although I think he was about 15 in the narrative.  What happened in his case was that he found an adult mentor (granted this was soviet russia) 

     

    • Like 1
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