HeyMath! Official Blog

Fun fest at Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Chennai, Jan 22 - 23, 2011

2011-01-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

Fun fest is one of the most popular events organized every year by the Parent Teacher Association of Vidya Mandir. This year they invited HeyMath! to take part and add some zing to the event!

We decided to set up a HeyMath! stall, - essentially a mock set-up of a typical Math zone and designed some exciting activities for the students. The stall attracted a huge crowd on both the days because of its cheerful and vibrant environment.

Students took part in three different types of activities -
1. Lucky Draw
2. Math games (paper-based)
3. Online math games (two computer stations were available for this)

Students of high school attended the fest on the first day and students of the primary level, on the second day. They were very enthusiastic and solved puzzles to compete in the lucky draw. The lucky draw was conducted once every hour and HeyMath! T-shirts were given to the winners. Children were overjoyed when they won the T-shirts!

Primary students enjoyed playing the paper based activities like magic triangle, identifying the simplest fractions, you are not my neighbour, etc while games like kakuro, number challenge, bridge puzzle, etc worked well with high school level.

Online games like memoria, factor game, quad game, jigsaw puzzles, monster munch, fact family trains, board games, etc were also appreciated by students and they were vying with each other to win prizes like scrapbooks, folders, etc.

Overall, students and parents had a whale of a time! Parents relived their childhood memories and encouraged their kids to take part in games. Some feedback from the students - "It was awesome", "Maths can be fun".

Srinivasa Ramanujan - Great Indian Mathematical Genius

2010-12-21T03:05:00.000-08:00

Born on December 22, 1887 in a place called Erode, Tamil Nadu, Srinivasa Ramanujan is considered to be one of the greatest Mathematicians to date. He was a natural genius in Mathematics and his fascination of numbers led to many contributions in number theory, infinite series, function theory, etc. Ramanujan was completely engrossed in pure mathematics and as a result never had any formal education. He used to write several letters to the Mathematicians at the University of Cambridge about his discoveries. It was G.H. Hardy who recognized Ramanujan and asked him to join the University.

Ramanujan discovered something interesting in positive integers. He said that any positive integer 'n' can be partitioned into the sum of positive integers without duplicating the partitions (summands). This partition function was represented as p(n). Here are a few examples:

p(0) = 0

p(1) = 1

p(2) = 2 [2, 1+1]

p(3) = 3 [3, 2+1, 1+1+1]

p(4) = 5 [4, 3+1, 2+2, 2+1+1, 1+1+1+1]

Many Mathematical giants such as Euler and Jacobi were fascinated with this discovery and researched to find a formula for this function.

Ramanujan's ingenuity in finding formulae under different categories had intrigued many great Mathematicians. He had proposed an equation called the diophantine equation which states that 2ⁿ - 7 is a perfect square for the values 3, 4, 5, 7 and 15 of 'n'. Are there any other values that can satisfy this equation?

2ⁿ - 7 = x²

It is believed that Ramanujan used to work for 30 hours at a stretch and this had caused some serious illness. His health had deteriorated and he was admitted to a hospital for months. Despite his illness, his mathematical ability to discover new facts never stopped. This was evidenced when G.H. Hardy visited him at the hospital and mentioned to Ramanujan that he had come in a cab numbered 1729. Apparently G.H. Hardy had thought 1729 was a dull number, while Ramanujan spontaneously discovered that this was the smallest number that can be expressed as sum of the cubes of two numbers, in two different ways.

1729 = 10³ + 9³

1729 = 1³ + 12³

Sadly, Ramanujan was unable to recover from his illness and he was diagnosed for tuberculosis. In the year 1920, he succumbed to his illness.

Even today many Mathematicians are pondering over his discoveries and theorems, and are still trying to analyze his findings.

HeyMath! Excellence 2000 (E2K) Program

2010-10-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

The international virtual competition in Mathematics for Grade 6 students was held on October 18^th as a part of the HeyMath! Excellence 2000 pilot program.

Students from seven schools in Chennai and three schools from Israel participated in the competition. A challenging treasure hunt was a part of the competition. The students were divided into groups and were asked to initially solve puzzles based on the concepts of perimeter and area of a rectangle. The solutions to these puzzles then served as clues to discover the location of the hidden treasure in the treasure map.

The students then interacted with the Israel Center for Excellence via virtual software, participated in the rapid fire round and answered questions based on cyclicity and area and perimeter of a rectangle. They worked as a team, discussed the answers with each other and a student coordinator conveyed the team’s answer to the moderator in Israel. They were also asked to explain their answers and received feedback from the experts at ICEE.

While a school from Israel bagged the first place, PSBB, TP Road came second and Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School and a school from Israel shared the third place.

Students were really happy to have had an opportunity to interact with their peers from Israel. They “just loved the treasure hunt. It was a mind blowing experience!”

Not just the students, even the teachers discovered the innate potential of the students through these activities. They felt that cutting across borders and persuading the students to answer tricky questions will pave the way for moulding future scientists.

TWA at HeyMath! Office

2010-10-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone!

My name is Desiree Ho. I am Mathematics teacher from Queenstown Secondary School. It has been a great pleasure to be attached to HeyMath!, for 3 weeks (3rd to 23rd October 2010) of Teacher Work Attachment (TWA).

When I was here, I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Content Development Team. We had discussions on all the online lessons for Additional Mathematics. I was then assigned to improve and include new interactive online lessons, on topics like Modulus Functions, Binomial Theorem and Quadratic Inequalities. It was a great experience for me, as I got to exchange ideas with the team. One of the key contributions from me, was to have helped create a math tool for Modulus Function.

Additionally, I reviewed the questions in the questions banks and added more questions from my End-of Year Examination Papers into it.

Having the opportunity to develop lessons and interact with the team, has definitely benefited me in my professional development and teaching pedagogy.

On my 2nd last day of the attachment, I am honoured to be given the privilege to teach in P.S Senior Secondary School. It was a rare opportunity for me to have an insight of the education in Chennai. I taught students on the topic, Surface Area of Cuboids.

During the lesson, I was greeted with highly enthusiastic students and am pleased that I was able to interact with them. I also got to observe the methodology adopted by the Mathematics teachers in Chennai. This school visit has definitely given me a new perspective to education outside Singapore.

To sum up, I would like to thank HeyMath! for all the wonderful and memorable experiences that I have had. I am definitely looking forward for more of such collaborations.

Teacher Work Attachment

2010-10-25T01:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! My name is Jaya and I’m a Math teacher from Queenstown Secondary School, Singapore. Recently, I was given the fortunate opportunity of working with HeyMath! through the Teacher Work Attachment (TWA). My colleague, Hwee Ling and I had spent three fruitful weeks from 3rd October till 23rd October in HeyMath! getting a first hand experience on the work the people in the office have been doing.

The focus of the TWA was on Additional Math syllabus and relating concepts to real life examples. I had numerous learning experiences from doing content review for the online lessons to close up the gaps to writing a script for an online lesson. As such, I had the chance to write a script on a lesson on kinematics and to work with the animators who were creating the lesson.

Above all, HeyMath! had given us the chance to teach in P.S. Senior Secondary School, a school well known of producing excellent results. I took the eighth graders for a lesson on surface area of cubes and cuboids. The experience was truly enriching as the students were very engaged and eager to learn from us. I’m very much glad that I had the opportunity to be exposed to the educational system in India.

This work attachment with HeyMath! had given me the space and time to gain new perspectives of education and new ideas in using HeyMath! as a enriching tool for my Math lessons! I thank the HeyMath! family for this awesome experience and I definitely look forward to collaborate with HeyMath! in the future.

HeyMath! Excellence 2000 (E2K) Program

2010-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

The HeyMath! Excellence 2000 pilot was launched in June with a teacher training session led by Dr.Avi Poleg, the Director of the Excellence Educators Institute. 5 city schools, 25 teachers participated in the training which was held at Vidya Mandir, Chennai.

The next item in the pilot was a virtual competition for Grade 7 and 8 students which was held on September 20th.

120 students from 7 city schools participated in the competition. They interacted with the Israel Center for Excellence via virtual software and answered questions based on various aspects of color and light. They worked as a team, discussed the answers with each other and a student coordinator conveyed the team’s answer to the moderator in Israel.

Students performed an interesting science experiment on chromatography as part of the competition. The experiment was conducted based on the instructions projected virtually by the moderator from ICEE. Students then answered questions based on their observations. They were also asked to explain their answers and received feedback from the experts at ICEE.

Students from PSBB, TP Road won the first position followed by Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School and Hari Shree Vidyalayam in the second and PSBB, KK Nagar in the third position.

Students were palpably excited about the whole experience and were delighted to have had the opportunity to explore and discover. They felt "It was racy, exciting, challenging and also a fun way to learn science!"

Teachers were very impressed with E2K methodology and felt that such activities should be conducted more often as they help to motivate students, nurture scientific enquiry and foster higher order thinking skills. They were also happy with the gradually increasing difficulty level of the questions.

Students and teachers of all schools are now looking forward to the Maths virtual competition for students which will take place on October 18th!

PSBB 100th day event

2010-09-27T23:15:00.001-07:00

On Friday the 24^th of September, the children at PSBB T.P. Road celebrated their 100^th day of school. They had spent the whole week counting down to this special day, which was organised and sponsored by HeyMath!

The event, involving 521 students from UKG to Class 3, kicked of with an exciting game called One Hundred Shape Housie. This sticker-sticking, number-crunching, shape-creating game was invented by the HeyMath team and customised to the requirements of each class. The kids loved it, each classroom was soon filled with a carnival atmosphere.

Next, the students tried a range of activities. Some imagined what they would look like if they were one hundred years old, others joined one hundred dots and stringed one hundred loops. The creativity was really unleashed when the children were asked to imagine what they could fit one hundred of in their desk, every child gave a different answer.

At midday the children assembled in the auditorium to greet Mrs. Y.G.P who had come to join the celebration. 100 children formed a pyramid on the stage as their classmates sang a song describing the odd numbers that built it. Next, the audience was transported to Gujarat as some older students presented a Garbha dance. Then it was time to journey to farther corners of the world; ten children volunteered to come on stage and teach the others how to say one hundred in ten different languages.

Finally Mrs. Y.G.P presented the section winners of One Hundred Shape Housie with their prizes and everyone had a slice of 100 day cake.

- Fay

POT LUCK - September, 2010

2010-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Menu - Chappathi, Veg-Biriyani, Tomato Rice, Sambar Rice, Egg burgi, Paneer Burgi, Raita, Chicken Masala, Potato poriyal, Dokhla, Masala Vadai, Chenna Masala, Sweets, Juice & Ice cream.

Provided by : Saroja Mam, Sudha, Gopal, Lakshmi,Veena, Radhika & Radhika, Harish, Krishna, Mehul, Nimmi, Sandhya, Kumudha, Swetha, Deepa, Geetika, Padmini, Saranya and Meenakshi.

Teacher’s Day – Evolving Approaches, Changing Perspectives…

2010-09-02T03:55:00.000-07:00

We all have fond memories of our school/ college days, be it as a student or a teacher. Of the spate of days or events to mark special occasions in the academic year, Teacher’s Day celebrations have always been eagerly anticipated.

I had my share of favorite teachers in school but none of them was a Math teacher. Ironical! Maybe not, considering, how well they fit the stereotype of Math teachers, a species that induced boredom and drowsiness or in extreme cases invoked terror and dread and an ambit of similar emotions in the student-world. However, luckily for me, Math had always been fun. I owe it to my mother – my favorite teacher of all time! Even though she never taught my class, she did focus a lot on my studies during my formative years, like every parent. She had the patience to answer my endless questions, the knack to explain the abstractness in interesting ways, and more than anything the humor to keep the study hours lively. I used to call her the ‘Trig-Wiz’ for solving trigonometry problems that seemed daunting and unsolvable to me, in to time and with apparent ease. I could gauge her popularity among her students by the huge stack of greeting cards and the bunch of beautiful flowers that she would come home with every Teacher’s Day, beaming with pride and joy.

We cannot dispute the crucial role that a teacher plays in influencing a student’s likes or dislikes toward a particular subject. Affable and approachable teachers are well liked by everybody. A teacher that embodies these qualities is no less than a Godsend. My colleague Radhika Sridhar recalls her experience, “In Stella Maris College, I had the proud privilege of studying under Dr. Ms. Thangamani. She was at ease with all the subjects she taught whether it was Coordinate Geometry or Complex Analysis. She had no ego issue about teaching the junior classes.

During my postgraduate days I was inspired by Dr. M.S Rangachari who made Real Analysis seem simple.” Radhika very eloquently adds “A good teacher makes you think even when you don’t want to.” Radhika who started her career as a teacher says she was greatly influenced by the books written by Mrs. Saroja Sundararajan, whom we all (at HeyMath!) fondly refer to as Saroja Ma’am. “I consider Saroja Ma’m as my in-absentia guru just as Ekalvya considered Drona (his). Her lucid explanation made her books extra special.” she says.

I also had the privilege to gather Saroja Mam’s views on how teachers’

and students’ attitudes have changed over the years. “In our days of the late 40s -Math teaching was always done by 'prim and proper' people - a Math teacher being dreaded by everyone. If a theorem did not end with a Q.E.D, marks were cut off. In spite of all that I keep wondering how I became passionate about Maths. It was surely my great father who inspired me into it” notes Saroja Ma’am tenderly recollecting her school days.

“In 1940s,. students were not allowed to ask questions.

"Miss! What do you mean by 'Locus'?"
"Don't ask such silly questions. Sit down and pay attention.” pat came the reply. Still the teacher was venerated as a guru” quips Saroja Ma’am.

“In the 1960s, teachers became more approachable. Teacher stayed after school to give extra coaching to the weak students. These teachers had taken up teaching because they loved it and they were dedicated to their profession” she says with nostalgia.

Saroja Ma’am refers poignantly to the 1970s and ‘80s as years when the passion and sincerity went missing from some teachers as they struggled to come to terms with the technological advancements that were happening all around them, in all spheres of life, education being no different. “Technology crept in slowly. Students far outdid teachers in computers. Teachers struggled to learn to make sure they weren’t left behind in the band wagon. Sometimes in desperation they would admit their ignorance.” she concludes.

The 1990s and 2000s are a whole new ballgame. An ever-growing number of the teacher community is beginning to incorporate technology into the conventional method of teaching. The all-invasive internet has armed the students with the power of knowledge – the most potent weapon ever. It’s a constant attempt to keep pace with them and a Herculean effort to trump them. Teaching as a profession has never been more stressful, competitive, intense and demanding. Therefore in such a high-strung environment, it’s all the more gratifying for teachers when their efforts are acknowledged.

We, as a company, take great pride in the quality and the accessibility of our content. The success of our program depends on the quality of teachers, their openness to adapting to rapidly changing technological initiatives, their enthusiasm and willingness to incorporate new pedagogical approaches into the existing approach, and most importantly their belief in the saying that the “learning never stops”. Our solution is a continually evolving one and the role of erudite teachers and educators world over in its evolution is as significant as the role of relentless technological advancements. We need both to thrive, to succeed.

In the years ahead, we look forward to many more collaborations with the global community of teachers. After all, we are a company that strongly believes “It’s all about teachers.”

Happy Teacher’s Day!

Onam Celebration @ HeyMath!

2010-09-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

NDP 2010 Theme Song - "Song for Singapore" by Corrinne May!

2010-08-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

HeyMath! Seminar at Singapore

2010-08-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

HeyMath! hosted a Learning Seminar in July 2010 at Suntec City Convention Center which focused on ‘How teachers can develop multiple learning paths for students by varying curriculum instruction through content, processes and technology based tools’.

At HeyMath!, since we work with many education systems, we believe that these strategies and trends can be fully leveraged to benefit in the teaching and learning process. Various teaching methodologies for both collaborative and self-directed learning were presented for the three different types of learners - Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic, which enthralled the participants.

Mdm Saroja Sundararajan, an exemplary teacher with over 25 years experience in teaching Maths and conducting numerous workshops for teachers, was the presenter of the event. She has been awarded the Best Teachers’ National Award from the President of India in 1986 for being a pioneer in teaching the subject through activities and introducing the creative aspects of Maths to the students. The salient features that were demonstrated are:

Fascinating web-quests for students to work in groups with individualized roles aids them develop their researching capabilities and understanding the holistic application of the Math topics.

Hands-on activities help the kinesthetic learners learn the nuances of the subject in simple ways.

Task and Guided Worksheets direct the learning of the students in a systemic manner and makes them ponder on myriad mathematical problems.

Game based modules and interactive math lessons motivate the students to learn by participation.

National Education Values enmeshed in the lessons make the students imbibe the traditions, culture and history of Singapore in their day to day life.

Personalized instruction by recording your own voice notes and embedding youtube video bring the subject to life and links it to real life.

Differentiated assessments for groups within a class/level gauge the level of understanding of the various students.

Here’s what some of the participants had to say on the techniques presented:

Webquest -

Would help the students see other aspects of maths which they now don't consider as they are so exam-oriented

Michael Andrew Peacock, Bukit Panjang Govt High School

It will be more useful to do it as a project work as a form of alternative assessment. We can group the different types of learners to their roles. Low Kok Hua, Coral Secondary School

Do as a project (NPPA). Students can get to know more info about the topic other than concepts. They also get to apply concepts on real-life questions. Wendy Tong, Tampines Secondary School

Hands-on Activities -

Good for kinesthetic learners. Visuals help student remember better than formula & numbers

Adrial Tan Chong Jin, Serangoon Secondary School

They’ll help students to visualize and understand concept clearer.

Chua Choe Tee, St. Margaret's Secondary School

It is very good way to translate from theory to actual tangible math. Can engage kinesthetic, visual learners.

Low Kok Hua, Coral Secondary School

The teachers participated enthusiastically in the activities and have showed tremendous interest in upcoming events. Hence, HeyMath! will be hosting such Seminars periodically for the teachers. We are planning to have our next event during the upcoming September holidays. We do hope you and your colleagues will be able to participate in this Seminar!

For enquiries and demo of HeyMath!, contact Mr Sim Seng Huat at 98590423 or email: sh.sim@heymath.com

HeyMath! Excellence 2000 (E2K) Program

2010-08-05T02:48:00.000-07:00

A key objective at HeyMath! is to constantly innovate around the teaching and learning process and to adapt global best practices for use by schools in India. Towards this end, we embarked on a very unique science pilot program, in collaboration with the Israel Center for Excellence through Education (ICEE) Center.

The HeyMath! Excellence 2000 (E2K) program aims to be the de facto standard for Excellence in maths and Science Education for schools in India. The program complements and expands the scope of what students already learn in class and encourages them to take giant leaps in how to apply interdisciplinary mathematical thinking and scientific enquiry.

The E2K pilot program was launched through a teacher training seminar held on June 19^th and 20^th, 2010. Principals and 6^th – 10^th grade science teachers from five different schools in the city of Chennai participated in the seminar led by Dr.Avi Poleg, the Director of the Excellence Educators Institute. This introductory seminar included an overview of the E2K rationale and pedagogy, as well as materials for specific science lessons.

Many creative science investigations were performed by the enthusiastic participants. Seminar attendees also experienced how the interactive whiteboard can be used to enhance their students' classroom experience. Teachers received an introduction to E2K's Virtual Learning Activities. With a simulated virtual event, teachers experienced first-hand, the excitement of competition, answering trivia questions and interacting via the virtual software.

Teachers were very impressed with the program and "can't wait to implement it in [their] schools!" Many expressed that the new and refreshing ideas which are part and parcel of the E2K program would raise the level of their teaching and also motivate the students.

Unraveling Math with HeyMath!Zone

2009-06-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

We always pride ourselves on the fact that our content enables students to learn Math using multiple intelligences. Taking this a step forward, we are happy and proud to formally announce the inauguration of the HeyMath! Zone which is a state of the art, cheerful and interactive learning environment. The purpose of HeyMath! Zone is to aid students to have a holistic understanding of the mathematical concepts they learn in class.

As a part of the solution we offer a range of interactive elements, teaching and learning tools to enhance and complement text book learning. These include state of the art technology - a laptop preloaded with HeyMath! resources, Math Concept Posters, interactive elements - all this while using the space within the classroom effectively.

The digital and interactive activities created for the HeyMath! Zone class involve active participation from the student. We also provide a systematic way of carrying out the activities which is of help to the teachers and students. The digital Math Lab lessons are created under the esteemed guidance of veteran educator Saroja Sundarajan. The interactive elements as well as the posters in the the HeyMath! Zone are conceptualized and designed in house with constant feedback from teachers. This combination of world class digital lessons and interactive components enables the teacher to effectively demonstrate, explain and demystify the abstractions which may cloud the student's understanding.

The emphasis is laid upon identifying mathematical phenomena in daily lives and marveling at its ubiquitous existence. This is our way of ensuring that the students take the time to observe the world around them, let their imagination take wings and be able to express what they observe in the context of Math.

Whether it is bringing to life the good old ice candy sticks or using number cards or even having a Mughal caricature to measure the length of his writing quill, the HeyMath!Zone lessons combine art, history and the environment to provide a thrilling experience to the students and help break the monotony of the world of black and white books.

For details on the affordable HeyMath! Zone solution please contact us at 044-43481506, 044-43481509 or mail us at youngworld@heymath.com

HeyMath Summer Camp

2009-03-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

HeyMath is piloting a Summer Camp in Chennai for school children in classes 4-8 in the month of May, for which we seek partners in Chennai, who will be interested in running the Summer Camp from their homes. We are looking for people who are enterprising , have a good social network, a passion for Maths, love interacting with school children, willing to put in a minimum of 3 hrs a day and are interested to earn extra income working from home. For further details / queries, please contact S. Manoj at manoj.s@heymath.com.

Content Management System - A New Avatar

2009-03-03T23:45:00.000-08:00

The Lesson Tree (content management system) now has a new avatar!

What’s changed?

- Icons now have a new look

- Easier navigation between topics and lesson resources

- Two different views for you to choose from

- A brief description on each lesson when your cursor hovers over the lesson link

Why should you be excited?

For teachers and site administrators, managing content on the lesson tree is now easier than ever before! You can create new folders, delete files or lock/unlock a file and even rearrange lessons through a simple ‘drag n drop’ process – all this without even having to navigate away from the main screen!

To help you understand how all the new features work, we’ve included a help file. You can access this anytime by clicking on the icon.

So go ahead… take a look at the new lesson tree and let us know what you think!

Introducing US Algebra 1 Package

2009-02-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

Our Algebra 1 and Pre-Algebra lesson resources were developed based on pedagogical inputs from eminent math educators from the US. They have tested the effectiveness of these resources in their classrooms and have given us great feedback. The highly interactive flash based lesson resources aim at driving deeper conceptual learning and critical thinking. The Exploration Tools and Graphers that are part of the package are designed to motivate and encourage experimentation and discovery on the part of the learner. With data and examples drawn from environment to sports, the package strives to make Algebra 1 relevant and rigorous.

TEACHER WORK ATTACHMENT WITH HEYMATH!

2008-10-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

My name is Halil and I am a Maths teacher from Queenstown Secondary School. Recently, I had the opportunity to be part of the HeyMath! family during my Teacher Work Attachment (TWA) from 5-25 October 2008. As part of the TWA, I had a first hand experience of working life in HeyMath’s R & D center in Chennai, India as well as got exposure to the school system in India.

The objective of this attachment was to focus on closing the gaps with more interactive activities for weaker learners in Singapore. In addition, the HeyMath! Team assisted me in creating online activities to engage the pupils and instill in them an interest towards learning Mathematics.

Besides that, HeyMath! also gave me a chance to teach in two of the schools here in Chennai, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School and Vidya Mandir School. It was such an enriching experience for me to teach the students here in Chennai. I took a lesson on ‘Introduction to Exponents’ and incorporated HeyMath! into the instruction. Students were very engaged and found the lesson very useful and interesting.

At HeyMath!, I have been able to gain new perspectives on education and I most certainly would like to collaborate further with HeyMath!. Thank you HeyMath! for giving me this opportunity.

StoryMath! – Generating Mathematical Sparks

2008-07-09T04:13:00.000-07:00

On the 4^th of July we premiered our first edition of StoryMath, entitled “The Perfect Arrangement”, to a rapturous response:

“This story really shows how Math can be applied in real life situations and inspires really shows true wit. Keep it going!”

Ritika Ravachandra - Methodist Girls' School - age 13

“It is a awesome story. Even though I love stories, I have never read a wonderful story abt maths like this and of course the last page was very funnnnnyyyyy. It is a lovely story where young kids love.”

Janani Priyadharshni M - PSBB Schools - age 14

“I like this story because we can learnt more about math and i like it, I hope that heymath will put more story like this...wakakakaka”

Nurfazirah Bte Misdi – Xingnan Primary School - age 10

StoryMath! was conceived as a way to put math in a fresh light. We wanted to address the widespread perception of math as a boring “can’t do” subject. Math is a world brimming with inventors, geniuses and unsolvable problems. And at its heart is the evolution of human ideas! Shouldn’t experiencing the “wow” moment be intrinsic to learning math?

Presenting math using the familiar and engaging medium of storytelling seemed to be the obvious approach to achieve our aim. Stories put math in an entirely new context. They help to entrench mathematical ideas in inquisitive minds. And hey, like any good story, our stories encourage and develop imagination, empathy, literacy and understanding of the world.

Our first story “The Perfect Arrangement” is about how one resourceful restaurant owner uses the amazing math of ordering to figure out that there are more than 3.5 million different ways for 10 people to seat themselves at a table. In doing so, she manages to subdue 10 squabbling scholars with a clever trick! The story comes with a fun interactive exploration into the math behind this trick. And as one 22 year old put it:

“Something very unusual just happened, I understood some maths! […] Seriously though, that was so clearly put, I wish I had been taught maths like that, maybe I would have understood it better. It appealed to my sense of logic too. I always felt I should have liked maths. Maybe one day I'll do an evening class in it.”

I think we can proudly say that the first edition of StoryMath! has generated mathematical sparks. We will strive to make its future editions equally inspiring!

Discover StoryMath! for yourself!

Making Math Social

2008-06-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

We’re pleased to announce an exciting new way for our users to collaborate when learning math. You may ask “how math can be social?” Well, we’ve developed some easy to use tools that allow you to interact with your friends and the whole web world.

We’re calling the feature ‘Mathlets’ – an acronym for Math-Learning-Teaching-Sharing. It’s still in Beta but here’s what the page looks like on Google’s OpenSocial platform Orkut

To start with you can see what lessons are being read by your friends and what everyone else is interested in for that matter. We’ve also made it possible for you to create a journal, add links and even add a video to make a personalized copy of the lesson – which you can then share with all your freeloader friends …and if you prefer instant help, we’ve linked in Google Talk for you to collaborate in real time.

At HeyMath! we believe that collaboration and math are natural partners. From the days of Pythagoras – who incidentally worked in a large team – right up to the design of the Faculty of Mathematics at Cambridge University, it has been well understood that talking about math to peers is vital.

Happy learning…teaching… and sharing!

Working backwards?

2008-04-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

From Secondary to Primary

Over the last seven years HeyMath! has developed a network of lessons covering secondary level mathematics. We have continually refined the product in response to feedback and requests from the schools we work with.

In May 2007 we started to move on… to primary level!

The maths at primary level is more basic than the maths at secondary level, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is easier to teach.

The needs for clarity, fun, a good foundation and interaction are greater at primary level. There also seem to be greater opportunities for creativity, motivation and inspiring a love of maths.

Creating a teaching resource

Here is my experience of preparing a plan for a primary lesson:

My first few ideas are usually fairly dull, so I make a big effort to think 'outside the box'.
- What is the heart of this concept?
- Identify with where a student is coming from: What would be familiar to them? What is new? Why is it hard? Where are the potential traps?
- What contexts could appeal to the student? What contexts could be new and diversify their experience?
Then I hit on something that grabs my imagination: perhaps an engaging presentation that gets to the heart of the concept, or a fun activity that provides lots of practice.

Once I am excited about the material then it is hard to make anything other than a top quality lesson!

During the creation process itself I often find my explanations getting clearer and simpler. This means that for some topics it is helpful to create lessons 'in reverse'. For example I made a review of the long division method at primary 4 level before attempting to teach the method at primary 3 level.

Philosophies and techniques

I feel that the philosophies and techniques I've developed while working on secondary level lessons can be applied even more effectively at primary level. I believe in techniques such as these:

Let's tell stories to engage the imagination. So you could have Mary sharing 63 oranges between 7 friends. But so what? Ralph is an Antarctic explorer dividing fish among penguins. That's a more engaging story!

Let's use accurate mathematical language in familiar contexts. Let's use the word 'remainder' in our English sentences as well as in Maths division exercises.

Let's create memorable settings for the concepts.

Let's learn by doing. Animated maths must not be a spectator sport. We can often interact with a concept even before we've been taught it formally.

Let's be brave enough to bring diversity by introducing new and fruitful settings for a holistic learning experience.

Feedback?

We would of course welcome further feedback from you as teachers and students. Feel free to comment on this post: What methods have you found work well? How important are real-life applications?

Your ideas, experience or research will help us further improve the resources you see at HeyMath!

Are you Smarter than a Singaporean 5th Grader?

2008-03-06T04:34:00.000-08:00

We've just completed our first 'serious' benchmarking contest for 5th and 6th graders in Singapore in partnership with Raffles Institution, and boy was it hard work!!

128 schools participated in what was Singapore’s first ever online math contest and when the dust settled, students from Nanyang Primary School were at the top of the leader-board followed by their counterparts at Nan Hua Primary.

On your mark...	Get set...
Go...

Here’s the final tally:

Number of Participants 4565
Highest Score: 76
Lowest Score: 0
Mean Score: 30.6
Median Score: 30.0

And er, if you’d like to match wits with these kids, drop us a line…

HeyMath! sponsored Math modelling contest @ Kurukshetra '08

2008-02-26T00:07:00.000-08:00

“Mathematics is one of the essential emanations of human spirit, a thing to be valued in and for itself, like art or poetry.” – Oswald Weblen.

"The very first edition of Kurukshetra was a phenomenal success and the second edition, Kurukshetra 08 had created very high expectations from all over the country. Now, we can proudly say that we have lived up to all those expectations. Math Modeling was one of the main events of Kurukshetra 08. Attracting young minds from all streams of engineering, this event was sponsored by HeyMath!. I had a great experience while working with the people of Heymath, especially, Mr.Ananth and Edward. With HeyMath!, work and fun are always in the right mixture. We learned quite a lot of things while looking for the problem statements and had great fun, rephrasing those problem statements to suit real life situations. Overall, the event was a great success among the participants and it would not have been possible without the help and support from HeyMath!"
- Rajaganesh, Event Lead, CEG-Guindy

"Supporting the organizers of the maths modeling competition was a fantastic experience. I enjoyed suggesting problems that would tax and entertain the finest minds in the College of Engineering, Guindy (and beyond). It was an education in Indian current affairs seeing the contexts used for the questions. The highlight was watching both rounds of the event and chatting to the contestants; the atmosphere of endeavor, maths know-how and excitement was tangible"
- Edward Drake, HeyMath!

We cracked it!!!

2008-02-22T00:54:00.000-08:00

Answers to the crossword puzzle posted on February 5, 2008

By The Creative Content Team!

An online Mathematics contest on its way...

2008-02-19T03:54:00.000-08:00

Raffles Institution, Singapore’s leading school is going to conduct the Raffles Institution Primary Mathematics World Contest 2008 on 29th Feb 2008. The objective of this contest is to increase interest in Mathematics amongst primary school students as well as give them an opportunity to discover their talent in solving challenging Math problems. This also helps schools to benchmark their Mathematics standards in an international platform.

Raffles Institution has teamed up with HeyMath!, its IT and pedagogy partner to conduct the first round of this contest online. HeyMath! has created an online testing platform using which 4500+ primary school students from all over Singapore and Indonesia are going to take part in the contest.

Based on their performance students will be awarded certificates from Raffles Institution and HeyMath!. The top 50 participants qualify for the second round.

In order to help students prepare for the contest, Raffles Institution and HeyMath! have developed a set of preparatory lessons and worksheets to enable students expand their knowledge and improve problem solving skills necessary for success in such Math Contests. The preparatory course focuses on mathematical reasoning and includes useful approaches and methods to tackle problems.

This opportunity from Raffles Institution has proved to be an impetus for us to create an online testing platform which can be used for a variety of purposes. The application can also generate detailed reports based on the test outcome.