UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 37, Page 6
July 23, 1992
Summer study+promise of Big Macs=better math scores?

     Can the promise of free Big Macs, challenging assignments and
accolades get fourth and fifth graders to abandon fun in the sun for
math in the morning?
     To answer that question, University of Delaware researchers, the
Christina School District and area McDonald's restaurants decided to
innovate.
     Kenneth A. Lewis and Laurence Seidman, University economists and
researchers, the University's Center for Economics Education (CEE);
Dukart Management Corp., owner of five Delaware McDonald's
restaurants; and Bayard Elementary School are working together to
craft a summer pilot program they hope will encourage students to
spend part of their vacations reviewing math.
     The Summer Math Project started July 6 with 81 youngsters from
across New Castle County picking up their first packets of math
questions.
     Because this is a new concept-based mainly on finding solutions
to problems by using logic and math skills rather than by solving math
problems -books and materials do not exist.
     CEE asked Jennifer Bonham, math teacher at the Bayard School, to
design the curriculum. Bonham's materials, selected from a variety of
sources, are aimed at challenging and entertaining youngsters.
     For example: the first packet has a numeric crossword puzzle.
Students have to change the written numbers into digits and fit them
into the correct boxes on the grid.
     The program will run for five weeks, through Aug. 7. Each week,
youngsters will pick up work packets at one of three support centers.
Two high school students will be available to tutor them or answer
questions.
     At the end of each week, youngsters who have completed their
assignments will be rewarded with a gift (a Big Mac, dessert or a
dinner) from McDonald's.
     The size of the gift will depend on how well they've completed
the assignment. At the end of five weeks, students who have completed
all assignments and their parents will be honored at a ceremony during
which students will receive a certificate of achievement and a Math
Star or Math Superstar T-shirt.
     After the fall semester has begun, Lewis and Seidman will
evaluate the level of participation and how much time was saved on
review at the start of the new semester.
     Lewis and Seidman asked the CEE to create the program when their
research indicated that the time spent reviewing math forgotten each
summer could be holding U.S. students back.
     In international math tests given in the 1960s and 1980s, U.S.
students scored far below other developed nations.
     In trying to determine the reason, Lewis and Seidman concluded
that the amount of time spent on math directly relates to a student's
ability to achieve.
     They also concluded that this nation's tradition of long summer
vacations has a deteriorating affect on a student's grasp of math
concepts and that concepts learned the semester before vacation must
be retaught for several weeks before the class can go on to new
material.
     Researchers are hoping this voluntary program will be successful
so that Delawareans can avoid costly mandatory in-school summer
classes now being used in several other states.
     CEE is seeking support for the program from the Delaware
Department of Public Instruction and the Christina School District,
which arranged for the participation of the Bayard School.
                                        -Barbara Garrison