The Museum of Mathematics—Great Resource

The Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) in New York City is the only museum in the United States dedicated strictly to mathematics. The exhibits and programs at MoMath are designed to stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity, and reveal the wonders of mathematics. Whether or not you are able to visit this fantastic museum, you can take advantage of some of its offerings.

Math Mondays is a partnership between MoMath and the magazine, Make: Online. The weekly column includes fun, experiential, puzzling topics in mathematics. Many of these are actual puzzles one can construct. This column will keep students involved with complex and innovative creations that will stretch their minds.

MoMath also has an online store that sells a variety of mathematical games, books, DVDs, toys, and puzzles that are worth considering.

Encouraging Mathematical Thinking

Parents, do you want to encourage your young people to think mathematically? Here are some ways to accomplish that.

Preschoolers

Nurturing Mathematically Talented Preschoolers—While it can be difficult to find programs for three- to five-year-old mathematically precocious children, there are things that you can do at home to encourage and feed their talents. Click on the link above and find suggestions that include

• Specific building materials, including LEGOs, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, K’nex, Magna-Tiles, tangrams, and blocks of all shapes and sizes. Ideas are also provided for using these building sets.
• Ways to use mathematical logic in everyday conversations
• Ideas for working with fractions

There is no need for formal lessons. All of the suggestions provided are applied through play activities.

Elementary School Students

10 Practically Fun Math Games and Activities for Your Preteen—While the title of this article suggests that young people be close in age to teenagers, many of these activities are appropriate for much younger children. Author JC Ryan lists eight indoor activities and two outdoor activities that parents may not automatically think of as building math skills.

Kindergarten through High School

Have You Seen These 8 High Quality, Free Maths Websites?—Activities here cater to an enormous range of abilities and offer math related subjects from basic counting through calculus, current economic theory, and puzzles.

Exercising Minds through Questioning

Bright students often come to class thinking they must know all the right answers. What they (and many adults) may not realize is that thinking is not driven by answers, but by questions. It is the sense of wonder and curiosity that drives understanding. As the old saying goes…The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. The more you learn about a subject, the more you realize there is to know. Perhaps having students list thoughtful questions at the conclusion of a unit would be a better determiner of knowledge gained than taking a test.

Young people learn to develop inquiring minds when they hear their parents and teachers ask thoughtful questions of themselves and others. One way to do this is to use Socratic Questioning. Socratic questions help to

• Clarify issues
• Question assumptions
• Justify statements
• Understand the ideas of others
• Imagine consequences
• Relate different issues 

Divergent questions are also useful. They usually begin with words or phrases such as

• Imagine…
• Suppose…
• Predict…
• If…, then…
• How might…
• Can you create…
• What are some possible consequences…

Here is one example of questioning for young children in kindergarten or first grade after reading and discussing Jack and the Beanstalk.

Q. What did Jack do when he got to the giant's castle?"

A. Jack hid from the giant, found the goose that lays the golden eggs, was discovered by the giant, fled, reached the bottom of the vine, and then chopped it down. The giant, of course, tumbles down, breaks his neck, and Jack lives happily ever after with his mother and his newly found wealth.

Q. Did Jack trespass illegally? (In kindergarten terms, "Did Jack go into someone's house where he did not belong?")

A. Yes!

Q. Did Jack steal the goose that lays golden eggs?"

A. Yes!

Q. Did Jack, then, refuse to give back what did not belong to him?

A. Yes!

Q. Then did Jack escape down the bean vine and cause the giant to be killed?"

A. Yes!

Q. If Jack trespassed, stole, and murdered the giant, why is the giant the villain of this story?