It's no secret that many kids say they hate math. Perhaps what they are saying is that they hate the way math is taught in the classroom.
For many years now, Talking Stick Learning Center has offered a Math Circle to the local community as one of our supplementary programs.
Our Math Circle has been recognized nationwide and continues to be led by Rodi Steinig, a Mt. Airy math educator. For the last three years, Rodi has been working on something special.
Together with her daughter, high school student Rachel Steinig, a participant at Talking Stick and an incoming student at the University of Pennsylvania, Rodi is publishing a book to help people become aware of the problems in math education.
And you can help make it happen. We'll get to that in just a moment.
Math Renaissance: A Book for Parents and Teachers
Math Renaissance is a book for teachers and parents of children ages seven and up. It aims to provide some ideas about how to improve the math experience at home, at school, and in math circles.
In alternating chapters, Rodi tells stories about her math circle and exactly what happens there, while Rachel discusses why so many kids hate math, documents the ways math is taught in the classroom – and ways that it can be improved.
The book gives voice to many, perhaps frustrated, students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Consider it a grassroots effort to shine a light on problems in math education and offer new approaches that can be implemented in the home or classroom.
You can find sample chapters on the book's landing page (http://naturalmath.com/MathRenaissance/) and get updates as we go from the book's Facebook page.
How You Can Help
Rodi and Rachel just launched a Kickstarter campaign to cover production costs: illustrations, editing, paperback layout, and ebook design. Funds will also support some additional expenses once the book is produced: ISBN numbers and bookstore registration fees, printing paperback books, and shipping them out to you!
You can help finance the production and printing of the book by directly pledging to its campaign on Kickstarter. Rodi and Rachel have a budget and a funding goal and you can pledge any amount toward this goal. Your pledge helps Rodi and Rachel gauge interest in the book, and no one will be charged for a pledge unless the campaign reaches its funding goal.
There are multiple rewards for different pledge amounts; each reward amount includes some version of the book as well as other incentives.
If you want to support sustainable change in mathematics education, please consider supporting this campaign.
