Mills Haven Elementary in Sherwood Park is hosting their fourth annual Math-A-Thon on Thursday.
This comes as Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) celebrates the division’s annual Week of Inspirational Math. This week involves many activities and exercises to help promote and understanding and appreciation of math for the students.
“My favourite part of [this week] is exploring the videos and ideas around the role of struggle and mistakes in learning,” said Maxine Holm, a mathematics teacher at the school. “Even young children are uncomfortable when answers aren’t easy, and they need to work on getting comfortable with struggling to solve problems. Another part I like to explore is the different paths students use to solve problems. It’s exciting to watch students discover there are different ways to find an answer and even more exciting to listen to the discussions they have with each other around their strategies.”
Local community members have also been invited to talk to students about how everyday math applies to their work, from architecture and engineering to medicine and sports.
“My favourite part about math is learning about different equations,” said Elara Scott, a Grade 1 student. “I feel happy when I solve a hard math problem because I did it and knew how to do it.”
The Math-a-thon is held on Pi Day – March 14. This day includes a fundraising initiative involving math skills, and different styles of activities for different grade levels.
The Week of Inspirational Math was inspired by Jo Boaler, a professor at Stanford University who promoted the idea of learning from mistakes and chalelnging yourself to achieve greater heights.
