Student engaging with new activity last year during Global Math Week
Since its inception last year, the Global Math Project has been teaming up with Orlando Math Circle for special activities and events to support their shared goal of changing negative attitudes about math. As an exciting new addition to the project this year, OMC is coordinating a special activity with acclaimed mathematician and founder of the Global Math Project, James Tanton, and Orlando Magic athlete, Bo Outlaw. Yes, you read that right. We’re bringing mathematics to the Magic!
On May 9th, OMC will host this project locally to get students excited about math. Tanton readily admits that he “is not a sports person”, so Outlaw is going to train him in some basketball skills. In return, Tanton will teach Outlaw and some students a fun math activity. We’re going to prove that “I’m not a math person” is just as silly as “I’m not a sports person”. Just as everyone can play sports, everyone can get excited about math.
2017 Global Math Week Outcomes
Schools, Want to Participate?
The Global Math Project is just that — an international program to connect students everywhere and to develop enthusiasm for mathematics by learning through fun, illustrative activities. Schools can become involved in this project by bringing their basketball teams to join in with Outlaw and Tanton as this exchange of basketball and math skills are practiced with them by students.
This event will be filmed by the Orlando Magic camera crew for the upcoming Global Math Week and can be shown to your student body to demonstrate the participation of your school athletes in this mission to show that math can be cool with the right attitude. In addition to the video, there is an accompanying activity of Exploding Dots, which OMC students had a great time studying this past fall.
These exciting math enrichment programs are beneficial to increasing math performance and testing scores by assuaging one of the greatest deterrents of student math success: math anxiety. The vast literature on this subject demonstrates that math performance is associated with the mental frame of mind, and that many students experience math anxiety that hinders their success. By gamifying math, students have an opportunity to learn without realizing that they are learning math, so their anxiety isn’t triggered and their confidence receives a boost.
Goals of the Global Math Project
Students, Want to Participate?
This event is open to Orlando area students and their school basketball teams. If you would like your team to attend on May 9th, please reach out to the athletic department at your school to arrange transportation and get in touch with Orlando Math Circle to register your interest in participating. Lake Highland Preparatory has been kind enough to lend us their courts for this community activity that will run from 4-5pm. Teams should attend in their school athletic uniforms. Follow Orlando Math Circle on Facebook for updates on this, and other, math events.
Individual winner with his disappearing cards video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9zpHgt1sqY
Global Math Video Project
Aside from the planned video of Tanton and Outlaw, schools and colleges beyond the Orlando area are invited to join in the fun by participating in another video challenge. Student groups, including mathletes, artists, athletes, or actors, or anyone else willing to make a contribution can make math videos for the Global Math Project. Each entry by a school should be their own representation of a number (or numbers) as it goes through the ‘exploding dots machine’, a vehicle for math concept comprehension.
These videos can also reflect something special about the school or the spirit of their community. For each submission by a student group, their school will be entered into a lottery for a cash prize. Additional prizes, based on merit, will also be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.
Kids deep into GMP activity October 2017
What is the Global Math Project?
According to the Global Math Project website, this project is “an invitation to students, teachers, and communities everywhere to actively foster their sense of wonder and to enjoy truly uplifting mathematics.” The Global Math Project reaches its apex during an annual Global Math Week, which is scheduled for October of this year. During this week, specific and interesting math videos (like the one made right here in Orlando!) will be made available to classrooms around the world, along with follow up materials to make the lessons impactful. The goal of the Global Math Project is to get ten million students (and adults) excited about math and to shift the mindshift that math is unengaging and unaccessible.
Exploding cheese ball machine from #gmw2017
About Orlando Math Circle
The Orlando Math Circle is a non-profit community organization whose mission is to build a diverse and inclusive student community of mathematicians from every and any background. Through a dynamic calendar of speaking engagements, workshops, creative projects, and events like the Global Math Week, OMC works to make math fun and exciting to every student in Orlando (and beyond). We are proud to partner with the Global Math Project for the wide-reaching impact of their mission to make math engaging and fun for all. Don’t you want to join us?
Killarney Elementary was the 2017 video contest winner of $500 with most submissions
