Partner in the Community

By Publications Writers

Many children don't jump at the chance to do math, and certainly not to stay after school to grapple with equations. "Usually, there are groans," says Catherine Nguyen-Ho '04, M.A.'06, today a teacher at the Six to Six Magnet School in Bridgeport. "Students often develop negative feelings toward math."

Last year, while working as a graduate assistant in the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions (GSEAP), Nguyen-Ho saw how easily this attitude could change. So many fourth- and fifth-graders at Bryant School in Bridgeport wanted to join the Mighty Math Kids Club that organizers had to start a waiting list for the after-school activity.

This program - in which eager students delve into numbers, decimals, and fractions - began three years ago through a partnership between the elementary school and Fairfield University. Melissa Quan, then director of community service for Campus Ministry, brought Bryant administrators and Fairfield faculty together to brainstorm ways the University and its students could assist the school.

At that table was Dr. Jennifer Goldberg, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in GSEAP, and Mayra Medina, numeracy coach at Bryant. "We wanted to help students explore math in a fun way," says Dr. Goldberg, "and give them a positive experience that connected math and their everyday lives. Educationally speaking, understanding mathematics gives people power in what they can do, from approaching and solving everyday problems to opening up possibilities for college education and a future career."

At Fairfield, Dr. Goldberg teaches a course on elementary education and mathematics for future teachers. At Bryant, Medina serves as a resource for teachers there. Although they work in different professional settings, each woman has a knowledge base that can help teachers 1) better understand how children learn mathematics and 2) know which teaching practices are most effective.

The two educators join forces regularly to brainstorm ideas for the Mighty Math Kids Club, which has been highly successful in reaching its target audience: young girls and minority students who need better representation in the field. Dr. Goldberg and Medina have integrated literature and other subjects into math education, and try to provide a variety of hands-on activities. Last winter, for example, the youngsters read Grandfather Tang's Story, talked briefly about shapes and geometry, and then made cards, creating art for them by pasting foam shapes together.

At another weekly club meeting, Nguyen-Ho read the book Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy. She gave examples, such as explaining how a pizza slice is a fraction of the whole, and students discussed how fractions relate to their lives. The session ended with a crafts project using fractions. Sometimes, the club sessions cover concepts that the Bryant School teachers say their students are having trouble mastering in the classroom. "Everything is integrated," says Nguyen-Ho. "They see there's a connection between reading, writing, and math."

According to Dr. Goldberg, students come to the club with varying skills in mathematics. In many cases, they have already formed strong opinions about their ability - or lack thereof - in it. "We're trying to move students away saying things like 'I'm not a math person' by helping them approach it as a part of all that we do in everyday life."

The club encourages students to not only excel academically, but also to behave in the classroom. Poor behavior will keep them out of the club. And they know there's a line of students interested in taking their place. Nguyen-Ho stresses the importance of having such clubs for students, particularly in schools with limited resources.

"In a way, I was one of them," says Nguyen-Ho, who went to school in Bridgeport. "I wish, when I was little, I had had activities like this to go to after school."

The club's activities sometimes extend beyond the classroom. As a way to encourage service to others, even among those who have little themselves, the Mighty Math Kids Club helped collect money after Hurricane Katrina and charted its progress through the creation of graphs. The children have also had the opportunity to visit Fairfield University. Last spring, the Mighty Math Kids Club sat down with women's basketball Head Coach Dianne Nolan, who encouraged them to do well in school if they wanted to play college sports.

"You started to hear them say, 'I want to go to college,'" says Nguyen-Ho. "It was inspiring."