HeyMath! Official Blog

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.

HeyMath! Joins Microsoft's Startup Accelerator Program

2008-02-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

HeyMath!, the leading E-Learning solutions provider for Mathematics, today announced that they have been invited by Microsoft, the world's leading software provider, to join its elite Startup Accelerator Program, in India.

Developed in formal collaboration with the University of Cambridge, HeyMath! is a specialist education technology company that has also been featured as an example of globalization in education by New York Times Columnist Thomas L. Friedman in the bestselling book "The World Is Flat". Adopted by students and teachers at progressive schools in India, the United States and by over half the highest performing schools in Singapore, HeyMath! resources reflect a blend of 'best practices' from top schools and are constantly updated based on user feedback.

Paul Murphy, Director of Innovation, Microsoft Corporation says "The Startup Accelerator Program is one of several investments Microsoft is making to help foster a healthy local software economy in India. HeyMath! is the most recent recipient of this investment as an innovative startup that's helping to solve a complex societal challenge. Not to mention the market for remedial education is several billion dollars in each of their target countries."

The Microsoft India Startup Accelerator program is designed to help high potential software startups get access, guidance and support to accelerate their success through a series of non-equity investments. Selected companies receive customized engagement plans to support their software and market development efforts.

"Innovation is our DNA," says Harsh Rajan, Co-founder of HeyMath! "The global shortage of qualified Math teachers is exacerbated in a Flat World and this has created a systemic imbalance of immense proportions. There is no perfect education system...so, getting the formula right for parents, is the key to preparing children for a 21^st century education. Our team is working flat out to find simple and collaborative solutions using technology to effectively address very real problems in teacher quality, curriculum instruction, assessment, after-school remediation and benchmarking."

"We are excited about being a part of Microsoft's unique Startup Accelerator program and believe that Microsoft's longstanding commitment to the K-12 education segment will help us significantly expand our customer base across global markets and achieve leadership positions in a much shorter timeframe than previously possible" says Harsh.

The Microsoft India Startup Accelerator Program is co-managed by Microsoft India and Microsoft's Emerging Business Team (EBT) in Silicon Valley. This team works with venture capitalists (VCs) and start-up companies worldwide to enable innovation and accelerate the software ecosystem. The team's mission is to identify and facilitate opportunity for start-ups and VCs, acting as the single point of contact and accountability to Microsoft. Paul Murphy is director of innovation for Microsoft India. His charter is to increase innovation in India, for India, by working with start-ups, financiers, policymakers, academia, and industry visionaries.

We make math interesting. You don't have to take my word for it.

2008-02-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

Click on the crossword grid to see a larger image. Please leave your answers in the comments section.

Collaboration across the globe

2008-01-29T21:14:00.000-08:00

HeyMath! is all about seeking out best practices from great teachers around the world.

Our ongoing collaboration with Westport Public Schools in Connecticut USA is a example of how this works.

Westport is a high performing school district with an innovative Algebra 1 course. HeyMath! is working with them to create a set of lessons that closely matches their syllabus and teaching methodologies. Westport is bringing their vast experience of teaching an engaging and approachable course to American teenagers. We are bringing our experience of creating teaching resources for use across the globe.

The Westport teachers have given us their syllabus for the course, all their worksheets and lesson plans. We have used these to create an online lesson for every concept in their course. As we create the lessons, Westport teachers test them out in their classrooms. We get detailed feedback so are able to keep improving the lessons.

A highlight of the collaboration has been the recent visit of Karen Dickey (Westport Middle School Math Coordinator) to our headquarters in Chennai, India. It was invaluable to get two weeks of detailed feedback about the lessons created and a user’s perspective on using the HeyMath learning environment. You can see Karen’s views on HeyMath! and her visit here. As a direct result of the visit we have added features to many of our lessons, made changes to the teaching style we are using to make it more suitable for an American audience and improved the HeyMath! website to make it more useable for the Westport teachers.

Karen Dickey meeting teachers from PSBB school, Chennai

When we have completed the Algebra 1 in early March, the course will be a demonstration of collaboration across the globe, best teaching practices from America and also (we hope!) a brilliant grounding in Algebra for students from any country.

SHARE IT

2007-10-15T07:24:00.001-07:00

Often, we are too slow to recognize how valuable and productive knowledge sharing can be and in what ways we can help each other through knowledge sharing mediums. This holds true, especially in the realm of Mathematics.

Over the past few months we've received several emails requesting for a feature whereby users can share HeyMath! lessons with just about anyone. A large part of those emails came from students in school who wished to revise or study with their classmates after school. So, with this in mind, we came up with the ‘Share IT’ feature.

Now, with just the click of a button, you can share HeyMath! lessons with anyone, anywhere in the world. Look for the icon when you access a lesson, and it's pretty straight forward thereafter. Your friends will receive a link to the lesson and will be able to view it for free!. What’s more, you can send a single lesson to several users by simply using a comma to separate your friends email addresses.

At the Technology front, Share IT has started to create inroads that will enable a service-oriented architecture. At HeyMath!, we encourage our users to accelerate the sharing of knowledge - you can share lessons from within and outside HeyMath!. You can find the Share IT feature @ places like the ‘FreeZone’ and ‘Browse Editions’.

Share IT. It's so easy to do!!

By one more than the previous one!

2007-09-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

Vedic mathematics is a system of mathematics consisting of 16 ‘sutras’(or aphorisms) that give very creative and efficient calculation strategies that can be applied to a number of situations in algebra and arithmetic.

Their discovery is attributed to a Hindu monk, Swami Sri Bharati Krsna Tirthaji, who is supposed to have found them in the Vedas (ancient Hindu text). While the sutras did not make any obvious references to mathematics they contained somewhat cryptic instructions for problem solving, which took the Swami 8 years to decipher.

Ekadhikena Purvena’ (translates to ‘by one more than the previous one’) is one of the sutras, a corollary or sub-sutra of which is ‘Antyayor dashake’. In this video, the calculation strategy contained in 'Antyayor dashake’ is beautifully demonstrated by the students of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, Chennai through the medium of ‘Bharatanatyam’ – A classical South Indian dance form.

This sutra can be applied to multiply any two two-digit numbers that satisfy the following conditions:
1. The 10’s place of the two numbers must be the same
2. If the units place of one number is ‘a’, the units place of the other number should be ‘10-a’

For example 32×38 would be 300×4 + 2×8 (from the sutra) = 1216

Ken Meehan, Math Department Chair, Cristo Rey High School, New York visited India in Feb 2007. During his 2 week sabbatical with HeyMath! he observed Math lessons at Chennai’s leading Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School. Inspired by the Mathematical dance he saw at the school, Ken created a set of equations that explain why the ‘sutra’ works and thereafter extended the idea rather elegantly to its application to Algebra.
32.38
= (30+2) (30+10-2)
= 30(30+10-2) + 2(30+10-2)
= 900 + 300 – 60 + 60 + 20 - 4
= 900 + 300 + 20 - 4
= 300(3+1) + 2(10-2)
= 300(4) + 2.8 =1200 + 16
= 1216

In general, if one number were 10t + u, the other number would be (10t + (10-u))
So we want to find: (10t + u)(10t + (10-u))

Using the sutra,
46 × 44 = 400(5) + 24 = 2024
23 × 27 = 200(3) + 21 = 621

Isn’t that cool?

Let the discussions begin…

2007-08-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

It’s but natural to have questions, opinions and thoughts when one reads a lesson or teaches a concept. Until now there wasn't any easy way to raise these questions or share views on a lesson. Wouldn't it be nice to have a forum to raise your questions or to read others experiences on how they used a particular HeyMath! lesson?

Well, we worked hard to address exactly that and are happy to announce the launch of the HeyMath! Forum - An exciting new feature to discuss and share your thoughts, opinions, discoveries and insights on anything to do with Math!!

The current beta version is open to all teachers in the HeyMath! community.

The lesson forum is accessible from the lesson tree and it enables users to view the lesson as they go through the discussions.

HeyMath! Forum, an application on its own, uses the Open Source JForum 2.1.7 framework. The development process involved a lot of changes in this codebase to make it understand the working of HeyMath! and make it suitable for productive discussions around HeyMath! lessons. We're grateful to the JForum community for developing a neat forum application and giving it away for free. We hope that the huge effort put in towards developing this feature is really useful for the HeyMath! community.

HeyMath! Apps

2007-08-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

We’ve been working very hard to make it easy for our users to access HeyMath! resources from their preferred hang-out zones on the web. Here are some examples of how we’ve integrated with some of the world’s top websites and applications.

Google

We released the iGoogle gadget about a month back and this has made it real simple for our users to create their personal E-Learning platforms on iGoogle! All HeyMath! users automatically get to see the resources that they’re subscribed for. Integrating with Google was a cinch and has really opened up a world of possibilities.

Facebook

Our flash based widget (Hey Math Widget in Facebook Applications) was created mainly for US High School students who want to access HeyMath! lessons from their Facebook profile. The interesting thing is that, we are the only Math application on Facebook as this blog goes live!!

Free 'Guest Access' allows users to check out several HeyMath! lessons without requiring an Id and Password

Moodle

iHeyMath! is our plug-in on Moodle and directly benefits all schools that use Moodle as their learning management system. Teachers can now very easily open a door into HeyMath! from within their Moodle environment and integrate HeyMath! lessons as links into their courses.

A big thank you to Cristo Rey New York High School for helping define the specifications and doing some of the QA!

Microsoft says we're "one of 25 most innovative Indian software companies"!!

2007-08-02T03:08:00.000-07:00

If there’s one thing I’ve learned at HeyMath!, its that innovation is not ‘nice to have’ but something that must be part of the core DNA. Don’t you think that it would be incredibly boring if it were any other way?

We’ve become a trusted partner to thousands of teachers and students worldwide by demonstrating our passion for building software products differently and at the highest level of quality. It’s a tough act to pull off...and getting recognized by the folks at Microsoft is indeed a wonderful moment…enjoy!

What it's like to intern with HeyMath!

2007-07-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

Life at HeyMath!

2007-07-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

We're humming as we complete seven years...

2007-07-17T03:10:00.000-07:00

There are 7 letters in HeyMath!
And Sapta Swaras means 7 octats
All opposite side numbers on a dice add up to 7
Buddha's 7 steps at birth took him to heaven
Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, 3 and 4
And rainbows have violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red
So, 7 is an interesting number by all accounts!

HeyMath! turned 7 on 07.14.07

The MSF and HeyMath! interaction (Or, how 18 year olds learnt to become content developers, instead of being Mall rats!)

2007-07-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

Day 0:
Jagdish: “Wonder if they will call me ‘uncle Jagdish’ – have never had ‘colleagues’ as young as this. They are barely out of high school and we are supposed to get them to do real work?”
Sushant: “Waiting at the airport to board the flight from Delhi to Chennai seemed like a mistake at that time…”
Mehak: “…a formal, impersonal atmosphere with people in suits and ties, work delegated and a stringent deadline imposed was what we all had imagined…”
Arjun: “… it was not with a little amount of trepidation that we landed our 18 year old selves on to the tarmac at Chennai airport. We were cynical and skeptical, believing the next 45 days to be a test… We believed ourselves to be subjects of naïve parental pressures borne of idealistic aspirations. Basically, we would have much preferred lolling about in our bedrooms back home than be perched upon stools in front of white screens”
Eliza: “…Looking at their work, I wondered what would be expected from me…I knew very basic Flash animation at that time. I thought I would not be able to stand up to their expectations…”

Day 15:
Jagdish: “These kids are quite uninhibited in their ideas – hmm, this might be an interesting experience”
Sushant: “My first impression about Heymath! was that it will be a company full of people obsessed with math and computers. People you wouldn't mind calling 'geeks'. But to my surprise and also to that of my friends, they turned out to be some of the coolest and very chilled out people we had ever come across. The company had a very relaxed yet forceful approach to their work.”
Mehak: “The wonderful thing was the fact that people here were so receptive to our ideas - however crazy they might have sounded.”
Eliza: “The workplace was very much different from what I had imagined. The friendly nature of people working here helped us to blend in freely. We were never asked for more than what we could give but at the same time these people made our work here interesting and challenging.”

Day 30:
Jagdish: “Now I have to read the major part of an 800 page Economics textbook – so that we can fuse this with Math lessons. Back to School, buddy!”
Sushant: “I loved the work which we were assigned to do. Blending the two most lovable and enthralling subjects, Mathematics and Economics for kids whom I don't even know or will ever come to know was a task in itself. But we enjoyed every moment from sitting and writing scripts for our lessons to explaining nitty-gritty’s of Economics to people around us and actually getting down and implanting and developing our own lesson, something we all are very proud of.”
Mehak: “The detailed process through which each lesson is conceived of and made has taught us that to make something good a lot of perseverance and hard work is required.”
Arjun: “…we were charged with projects to complete, ideas to be churned out, and deadlines to be met, etc. We languid beings were gently pushed out of our cocoons and made to do things constructive and viable.”

Day 45:
Jagdish: “This project was good – it pushed me to look at things from the perspective of an 18 year old, about what would really make an impact in a math lesson. And now I can go back to acting my age. Sigh!”
Santosh: It was a wonderful experience to bring out stuff like an electronic math lesson from these 18 yr olds- “Sushant, Mehak, Arjun, Eliza”. They all were equally good and cooperative in producing the lessons which encouraged me to guide them for producing good lessons through out their working period in HeyMath!
Sankar: It was a good experience for me to teach Flash to young students. They learned Flash very quickly and implemented their Flash skills in lessons. I learned some Hindi words from them while they were speaking Hindi with Santosh and Jagdish. I also liked being called Professor Sankar by Jagdish!
Sushant: ”The way people here have used technology to teach Math is actually commendable. I at some level was jealous of kids who actually got to learn Math using the content which the company developed”
Arjun: “The realization, at the end of it all, that we were actually able to add something to the process, as we refer to it, of creation of things not meant for us but for others was humbling, to say the least.”
Eliza: “I have not only learned more Flash animation than I already knew but also the art of looking at a lesson from a child's point of view. To end with, it was a great experience, one of the most memorable summers of my life… I am sure HeyMath! would go a long way, and one day manage to remove the fear of math.”
Mehak: “For us, "Mathematics" and not "Math" was all about a big fat colorless book filled with big numbers having no relation to the real world. The vision this company has for the future of classroom teaching is much needed and sharing that vision during our time here was the real motivation.”

Do you know?

2007-07-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Mathlet: A portmanteau of work Math and Applet, Mathlet is a web widget that can be plugged and played in different portals. The first product to have come out from Mathlet initiative is iHeyMath! iHeyMath! is a cool Mathlet that can be added to iGoogle homepage. iHeyMath! enables easy browsing of lessons specific to user’s grade and subject requirement. Keep watching for exciting new Mathlets to be released soon.

PRIME: Program from Raffles Institution for Math Enrichment is a new Online Math Challenge, developed in partnership with Singapore's leading school, Raffles Institution. PRIME consists of a series of in-depth Mathematics courses for students at the primary and secondary school level. Each course comprises online instruction, online worksheets and a final exam. A certificate is awarded on successful completion of each course. Currently, the users have 28 courses to choose from!!

HeyMath! goes e-Commerce: Buying HeyMath! products has become easy and instantaneous. Select your choice from various HeyMath! products and pay using your credit card. The payment is processed securely and your access details will be mailed immediately.

User Forums: Still in the early beta stage, this will enable new ways to discuss HeyMath! lessons

HeyMath! Junior: HeyMath! is all geared towards this new release and anytime before the end of this year HeyMath! junior should be available. You should then be able to enroll your 7 year olds to HeyMath!

Moodle integration: HeyMath! has successfully done the initial demo of integrating HeyMath! lessons into the popular Moodle application. Users can combine the power of Moodle and the high quality research-based content from HeyMath!

Raffles Institute to feature HeyMath at MOE ExCEL Fest 2007
This will feature Raffles Institution's use of 'HeyMath!' in building even greater interest for math among its high ability learners. Visitors to this booth will get to view real-life examples of activities and animated lessons, as well as how mathematical concepts are developed. Also featured are online assessment modules, interactive worksheets and the in-built progress tracking system. As a special treat, Raffles Institution will also be showcasing HeyMath! PRIME, a programme it jointly developed with HeyMath!

Teacher tools: We have enhanced the "Grapher" in the teacher tools section. The grapher now lets you draw quadratics in all 3 forms: factorised, completed square and the general form. You can also paste the graphs you have drawn using grapher in word documents or power points and print it as well.

HeyMath! & Backpack Size: Catholic High School, a government school for boys in Singapore has done away with math textbooks for Sec 3 and Sec 4 (equivalent to US grades 9 & 10). Students and teachers logon to the HeyMath! and their entire math curriculum and lessons are available in the HeyMath! portal.

Users: Our first user from Ecuador signed up this month. With the amalgamation of latest technology and our focus on reaching out to a larger audience, HeyMath! has recently come out with some fantastic special offers that has made it almost impossible for users to resist. Do get in touch with us to find out more about this.

The purpose of the new HeyMath! blog is to share all this and more with you. We hope to give you more insight into what happens behind the scene – the research, thinking, technology and creativity that goes into the lessons that we create. We welcome ideas and feedback from you and hope that this blog would serve as a forum for communicating with our users.