YPP scholars from the Cambridge Public Schools shared their ideas on how to make teaching and learning math more engaging at the MIT Museum.  Roughly 100 event-goers experienced explorations led by scholars and listened to their co-design process to create a Math Playbook.  Scholars highlighted how imaginative, participatory, and collaborative opportunities foster meaningful learning experiences.  

YPP scholars from the Cambridge Public Schools were planning to share their ideas on how to make middle school math more engaging at the MIT Museum. Due to COVID-19, plans were changed. Instead, scholars shared meaningful learning experiences in an online presentation and playbook.  In January and early March of 2020 scholars were able to host three events for over 300 educators, families and scholars.

Roll that Fraction is a dice game that helps elementary school students build fluency around fractions. Using a whiteboard and expo marker to record their mathematical thinking, students can play with a partner or in groups of 2-3. Depending on the skills that students want extra practice on, for example, adding or comparing fractions, there are four different games that they can play. The games are: High-N-Low, Original, Roll 4, and Sum It Up. 

Blaise and Charles, who are current high schoolers at Cambridge Rindge and Latin (CRLS), came up with the first prototype of Roll that Fraction when they were in the 6th grade. With limited resources, they wanted to come up with a simple game that would support younger kids with fractions. Their game design for Roll that Fraction centered around encouraging friendly competition so that students would have fun while improving their fraction skills.

Piece of Pie is a memory matching game with equivalent fractions and pieces of a whole pizza pie. There are three sets of cards: pizza pie slices, fractions (out of 8), and equivalent fractions (unlike denominators). The game itself is versatile where students can mix and match the available sets of cards. In addition, Piece of Pie can be played as pairs or compete in two groups. Currently, the two main versions of the game are: Whole (match pizza pie cards to make a whole) and Equivalent Fractions (match pizza pie cards to fractions (out of 8)). 

Three middle schoolers (Angie, Ilwaad, Leila) at Cambridge Street Upper School (CSUS) came up with the idea for the Piece of Pie during their Personalized Learning Block (PLB).  Initially, these upper schoolers wanted to brainstorm new games for 2023 Pi Day at the MIT Museum. They chose to use food to help represent fractions since it makes fractions relevant and accessible for more students.