A topic that I care about quite a lot is that of math anxiety. It is common to hear people speak about their fear or dislike of math. While many would agree that math is 'very very important' and would want their kids to excel at it, very few know how to make it interesting for their kids. That is left to the school teacher, who is probably herself burdened with having to accommodate students of varied learning capabilities and few resources to help her.
I have found that it is possible to make students interested in small math ideas if they are slowly trained to enjoy thought exercises. Most people seem to think that mathematics is only about memorizing and problem-solving. But it is also about experimenting and discovering. And if this is brought to a child, sooner or later, they take notice.
I have taken part in various outreach activities over the years and continue to do so, both for students as well as teachers. Here are examples of some topics and activities we have done.
I enjoy talking about the connections between kaleidoscopes and reflections groups. I find that this is a topic that can be modeled into a talk for varied age groups. I have tried it with high school students, with college students and with graduate students. Its a rich topic and an interesting glimpse into reflection groups and Coxeter groups.
I like to explore geometry with Origami. I give talks about origami geometry, which are interactive and enjoyable for all age groups.
Math circle:
Priyavrat and I run a math circle in our apartment complex. We started this activity in November 2012 with the aim of motivating young minds towards mathematical thinking. (This activity is currently suspended)
Our goal is not training students for any competitions. In fact we aim to keep our math circle free of
competition and focus more on developing a liking for mathematics.
At present the format of the math circle is as follows -
duration: one and a half hour
frequency: once every week
agenda: the first hour is devoted to the mathematical topic of the day; in the next 30 minutes we try to
focus on doing a fun activity having some mathematical flavour. Examples are solving Sudoku puzzles, Rubik's cube, origami.
Here are some resources on math circles that I find useful:
MSRI's National Association of math circles website: http://www.mathcircles.org/
Books:
1) 'Challenge and thrill of pre-college mathematics' by V.Krishnamurthi, C.R. Pranesachar, K.N. Ranganathan,
B.J. Venkatachala.
2) 'Mathematical circles (Russian experience)' by Dmitri Fomin, Sergey Genkin, Ilia Itenberg.
In November and December 2013 we learned modular origami. We used the book:
'Beginner's book of Modular Origami Polyhedra - The Platonic Solids' by Rona Gurkewitz and Bennett Arnstein.
I used 80 gsm paper for the folding; we found that thinner paper does not hold well enough for putting together the modules.