Elena MacManaman “The best way to start loving math”
The main goal is to help students discover beauty, adventure and enjoyment in mathematical inquiry. Students will work together in a non-competitive way. Through open discussions and hands-on activities students will grow their math eyes and experience the creativity of mathematics in a non-coercive environment.
The MaTHryoshka math circle is based on the 7 Principles of Natural Math. Which means all tasks are open-ended, student-driven, and linked to the world around us. Instead of “no, that’s not correct”, we use lots of “yes, and how does it work”. All tasks use maker approach and aim at developing “happy familiarity” with complex ideas.
We will learn to ask deep questions and look for non-obvious answers.
Working individually and in teams, we will play games and solve open-ended challenges that develop lateral thinking and creative problem-solving.
Julia Strelnikova, a mother of 8 y.o. son
We started taking our son to the Natural Math class out of pure curiosity. We were looking for a math class for our 7 year old that would be different from the math that was taught at school. He had no trouble at school solving simple problems like “answer the question or write down the result” but we were looking for more.
After the class with Yelena, at Natural Math, he told us that it was difficult but interesting and we were really pleased with such a response. It was his first time to find out that a problem can have multiple solutions and that before you start solving a problem you need to think about how to approach it.
Our son compared himself to a knight and his problem is the castle under siege. He learned to realize that you cannot conquer everything right away. A knight must have patience to not turn away if a task appears to be difficult.
Every parent wants to see their child succeed. This year our son surprised us with a high grade at the international math competition Kangaroo. We were also very happy to see that he is excited to take on problems where you have to think outside the box. We think that this is the most important thing that he learned through the Natural Math classes.
LEARN MORE ABOUT NATURAL MATH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXgFQfrjXos
Math Cafe February 18: What is multiplication?
http://www.moebiusnoodles.com/mathcafe/ for details and chat during the event. Math Cafe is an informal discussion with leaders in the fields of mathematics...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcivvTbPUpk
Citizen Science at Natural Math
Citizen Science at Natural Math. http://naturalmath.com/citizen-science-station/
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ok, this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEiG-owLzZs it's Maria presenting, but the presentation is written by both of us and reflects what NM is about very well.
5 Year Olds Can Learn Calculus SparkCON
http://naturalmath.com presentation by Dr. Maria Droujkova
Here's a good write-up of one of the math circles from the calculus series - http://naturalmath.com/2014/04/inspired-by-calculus-math-circle-week-4/
Inspired by Calculus Math Circle - Week 4 - Natural Math
Even if five-year-olds can play with advanced ideas, can they do the next steps toward formal math? Can they actually integrate and differentiate? Are they capable of sufficient level of abstract thinking? These are the questions we are focusing on…Read more ›
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