I have three wonderful children. One of them could multiply any number in Kindergarten and found little stimulation in math classes despite having some excellent teachers. Another struggled with math and failed algebra finding it abstract and not useful. And the third was constantly getting into trouble in math class, blurting out answers to problems of the week and generally fidgety despite being brilliant at math. Though I am a math educator who has taught math as well as physics, trained teachers, developed curriculum, and designed broadly published math education software, I was of little help and generally frustrated. My children needed math that was creative, that they could see concretely, that enabled them to experiment and go beyond the limitations of their school grade level curriculum. They needed math that gave them lots of choices to match their interests and imaginations in both level and content.
As a teacher I know well that many parents find themselves similarly frustrated. Even with teachers who are open to our help, even with a rich knowledge of mathematics and math education, even with a wide sense of what is available for students in math, we have been able to do very little. This dream of helping my children and all children has been my driving force as we developed What if Math.
We seek to make math useful as well as powerful, to provide imaginative activities that give your children lots of choices, open-ended and fun, and we seek to “turn kids on to math” but not interfere with their school curriculum. Spreadsheets are the quantitative tool of business today and for the foreseeable future. They are visual and concrete enabling students to see math as well as use it. They are function machines, and function, widely considered by mathematicians to be the most important concept in mathematics, is the basis for calculus and much of higher math. Spreadsheets are data engines to enable students to explore rich and varied problems, and they are programming tools providing both immediate feedback and coding experience to be ready for their digital world.
You have a role to play in not just encouraging your child to try our spreadsheet Labs but in asking them to show and explain their work to you. Working with spreadsheets is a profoundly creative activity. They enable business people and scientists to ask “What if…” And you should ask your child “What if…” You likely use spreadsheets in your work or life and we think you that these Labs will enable you to use them better, and with your child’s help learn to use spreadsheets to ask “What if…”
We have a wide variety of spreadsheets and courses at all levels and for different interests and we are putting new ones up every week. We always look forward to your thoughts, comments, and stories about your kids. Email me at whatifmath.org.
Have a fine day,