Workshop

The core of the summer workshop will consist of the morning and afternoon sessions held from Monday through Friday. This time will be devoted to discovery, problem solving, and interactive learning. During the earlier part of the week teachers will gain experience with a variety of problem solving techniques such as symmetry, mathematical patterns, and parity. Subsequent sessions will focus on particular topics such as geometry, sequences, counting, and number theory. Traditionally relegated to the high school curriculum or beyond, these topics actually provide a natural starting point for exploring and appreciating interesting mathematics at the middle school level. All the sessions will be led by exceptional educators and mathematicians from the San Francisco Bay area. We are grateful to the Firedoll, Simons and Bechtel Foundations as well as MSRI for supporting our summer instructors. A major theme throughout the week will be finding creative answers to the question of how to incorporate a problem-solving approach to math education into the existing curriculum. To this end leaders will supply participants with handouts or short modules based on the material covered during their sessions. They will also work with teachers to share ideas for enlivening any math class and to develop lesson plans. Focused discussions will be held regularly to determine what obstacles exist to incorporating this style of teaching into the present curriculum, what resources would be most helpful to teachers, and other related topics. For more information, please see the Bay Area Circle for Teachers Summer Workshop page at http://bact.mathcircles.org/summer