Math anxiety is something all too real in our society, but after attending the SAGES Math Workshop led by math professors in the Department of Teacher Education Dr. McNamara and Dr. Olkin and active participation from physics professor Dr. Guzman, I learned a hands on a lesson where one can slowly unfold what pi is and represents to move kids away from common knee jerk responses, such as "3.14" or "dessert" . Learn I did! I led the activity at the SEM Link STEM Career Fair at Laney College for the kids and parents approaching the SAGES table I was representing.
For me, science drew me in because it was always about exploring the world around you; understanding how things work while having room to delve into the unknown. The math workshop taught me how I could do the same with teaching math, and it definitely engaged the parents and kids and left them in awe!!
I had them measure objects from Pringles caps to dinner plates, adding their calculations to large chart, doing some crafts to make visual diagrams, and bringing everyone together to analyze all the data collected on the chart before wrapping with the answer to our initial questioned posed: "What is longer, the distance across the soda can or around it?"
Many of these were younger kids in the middle school and elementary level, so it felt great to open up positive, accessible real world applications outside of a school setting to both "math lovers" and the "math-fearing" alike. I think it's safe to say we all left the event with a new outlook, and at the end of the day, they might never forget that the distance around any circular shape you find will always be about 3.14 longer than the distance across it!
Hadia Amani
SAGES Area Leader
For me, science drew me in because it was always about exploring the world around you; understanding how things work while having room to delve into the unknown. The math workshop taught me how I could do the same with teaching math, and it definitely engaged the parents and kids and left them in awe!!
I had them measure objects from Pringles caps to dinner plates, adding their calculations to large chart, doing some crafts to make visual diagrams, and bringing everyone together to analyze all the data collected on the chart before wrapping with the answer to our initial questioned posed: "What is longer, the distance across the soda can or around it?"
Many of these were younger kids in the middle school and elementary level, so it felt great to open up positive, accessible real world applications outside of a school setting to both "math lovers" and the "math-fearing" alike. I think it's safe to say we all left the event with a new outlook, and at the end of the day, they might never forget that the distance around any circular shape you find will always be about 3.14 longer than the distance across it!
Hadia Amani
SAGES Area Leader