We’re working on our website, and have moved all the information regarding our Creative and Analytical Math Program (C.A.M.P.) to our main website.

Main Website: bardmathcircle.org

A really nice website just stumbled upon is Euclid the Game.

This game starts by challenging you to construct an equilateral triangle, given a segment, with just 3 simple tools that approximate a straightedge and compass.

From there, you progress through some standard constructions that everyone should know (but none do, of course – that makes it more fun). I can’t wait to see how far these constructions progress.

• Use of imagery
• Really about pi/circles/etc

It’s time to start thinking of the summer. Many students attend summer academic programs, and here are lists of the math camps that have the best reputations across the country:

• AMS Epsilon Program list of Summer Math Camps and Programs for Students
• National Association of Math Circles Summer program listing
• Art of Problem Solving Mathematics summer program list

These can be very different programs, so please leave questions, comments or anecdotes in the comments below.

While students took the AMC 8 Exam at Bard College on November 19, 2013, parents were invited to attend a panel discussion on Supporting your Child as a High Achiever in Math and Science. Here is some information about the panel members, panel discussion, and additional information sheets below.

PANEL MEMBERS

Halle Kananack, (moderator) math educator and consultant
Halle Kananack is a K-12 math coach. She also leads professional development sessions for teachers, and is a writer for a Common Core-aligned math curriculum. A former middle school and high school math teacher, Halle also taught at SUNY Ulster, through the Bard Prison Initiative, and for a variety of adult-ed and GED-prep programs. Halle is passionate about math education and its potential to mentally empower us. She believes that genuine understanding, creative thinking, and having fun are essential ingredients to the math experience.

Ben Houston, STEM Professional
Ben Houston is the parent of an 8th grader and a 4th grader who both excel at math and science. He is a licensed professional engineer and currently works in digital mapping, having cross trained in cartography, geodesy and surveying. To him, math and science are like art: something found in the beauty of everyday life, and by making such topics simply an extension of everyday life as opposed to isolated academic endeavors, kids can then be free to explore them with fun, freedom and creativity.

Jing Ju, Parent
Jing Ju is a full-time mom of two boys. She was previously a software engineer with advanced degrees in science and engineering. She grew up in China, and everyone in her family loves math.
She has a positive attitude towards math and really believes that Math is beautiful, math is fun, and math is straightforward.
Jing Ju has higher academic standards, and she helps kids practice math skills through games.
She encourages kids to explore their math potential. They are allowed to learn math according to their own pace.

Deborah Mosher, NY State Master Teacher
Debby Mosher is a math teacher at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook New York, where she has taught 7th grade math and 7th grade accerated math for 15 years. Previously, she was a computer programmer at IBM where she worked on mathematical modeling of computer software and hardware. She recently was named a Master Teacher in New York State. One of her mathematical interests is learning about the lives and contributions of famous mathematicians in history, and using that material to create excitement for students in math class.

Japheth Wood, Bard Math Professor
Japheth Wood is a math professor at Bard College. He directs the Bard Math Circle and the New York Math Circle, and works with both pre-service and in-service math teachers in New York City and the Mid-Hudson Valley. He sees math circles as a low-stakes math enrichment activity that has potential to inspire and prepare students and teachers mathematically, and a way to connect mathematical professionals, teachers and parents to support mathematical education in ways that are not possible otherwise.

Questions

For Math, we have heard about AMC, MathCounts, MathOlympiad, CML etc, what are such similar, well defined programs and resources for Science for Middle Schoolers?

What career opportunities can my daughter explore in math and science, and how can I support her when she starts to think about career choices and colleges with a focus in math and science?

Does Bard support math circle students by offering any summer programs for students?

Additional Information

Supporting High Achieving Middle School Math Students
Eli Byers & Deborah Mosher, New York State Master Teachers

Information Sheet from Mrs. Lin

More information to come! If there is information you’d like to include but isn’t here, please email bardmathcircle@gmail.com.

Hello Math Lovers,

Bard released a very nice article about the Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving. Go ahead and read the article:

While the program was in session, I provided updates to the Bard community, and among the many wonderful and supportive responses was this question:

Curiously do we offer any programs like this for local kids with the same academic curiosity and promise?

I love this question! Of course, the answer is very complicated and nuanced.

On the face of it, not at all. Bard does not provide a 3 week sleep-away math camp for local kids on this beautiful, secluded campus. No all-star math staff selected from a national search for instructors who have the deepest mathematical knowledge and incredible experience and success at igniting mathematical passion and excitement. No amazing math curriculum, where students can delve deeply in to advanced mathematics that they’d never learn in school. We don’t offer that.

But, the SPMPS students are selected from some of the most underserved NYC middle schools. Each of these schools has a very high poverty level; at least 75% of students at each school qualify for free lunch, and at most of the schools that statistic is up around 90% or 95%. The typical student at these schools is far below grade level, and part of what makes SPMPS work is attention to building up necessary technical skills that are just plain missing.

However, the mid-Hudson Valley has all that too – not just urban poverty, but rural poverty too, with many students who have fallen behind, yet have an amazing intellectual potential.

We also have the Bard Math Circle, a small program with huge potential. The most consistent program happens monthly at the Kingston Library, and now the annual AMC 8 contest.

What do you think? Where could this go? Let’s discuss this in the comments.

Japheth