University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 21, Feb. 27, 1997

              Saturday Morning Math proves learning = fun
     
     For the children enrolled in UD's Saturday Morning Math
program, Saturday morning equals having fun with other
youngsters while learning the principles of mathematics and
how they work in their everyday lives.
     On a winter Saturday morning, about three dozen
children and their parents braved sub-freezing temperatures
and the remnants of an overnight snowfall to participate in
the first of three scheduled math sessions that day.
     Each session lasts about 90 minutes, with the time
divided between hands-on experience in the classroom and
work in the computer lab.
     In teacher Yvonne Aluise's class, children aged 6 to 8
put finishing touches on their individual versions of Frosty
the Snowman, choosing from a table full of construction
paper, glue sticks, crayons, markers, pencils, yarn and
colored plastic discs.
     Through the use of these items and a legend assigning a
value to each accessory, the children were able to tell a
story about themselves and their families.
     For example, the number of buttons on Frosty represent
the number of people living in each child's home, while the
color of the boots (red or blue) indicates an even or odd
number of letters in the child's name.
     By choosing a certain scarf, children are able to tell
their classmates whether their favorite snow-related
activity is sledding, having a snowball fight or building a
snow fort.
     The next assignment was to draw a shoe print and to
think about the many different ways it could be measured-a
task so involved that nobody seemed to notice that the
classroom period was nearly at an end.
     "The neat part of this class is that it is nonstop,"
Aluise said. "It also is a lot of fun."
     Before moving to the computer lab down the hall, Aluise
and her students discussed the function keys they would be
using. During their 45-minutes in the computer lab, the
children were shown how to create various geometric symbols
on the computer, and there was a lively discussion of
squares, circles and right angles.
     Other titles listed on the computer menu screen were
"Puzzle Tanks," "Green Globs," "Treasure Math Storm" and
"How the West Was One + Three x Four."
     Students were permitted to play the other games after
they had carried out their original assignments.
     "Young children do not have a long attention span when
it comes to working math problems on the computer," teacher
Jennifer Cascaden said. "They like to play games on the
computer, but once they actually get involved with their
math problem, they end up liking what they are doing."
     Getting kids to like math and to think of it as a fun
experience is the goal of teachers Aluise, Cascaden,
Jennifer Bonham and Marty McCormick, the program's director.
     "We feel that school should be a comfortable place,
where learning math can be fun," McCormick said. "We believe
that learning should be an enjoyable experience."
     McCormick said she believes that most children,
including those for whom math has been difficult, usually
respond positively if given the opportunity to make sense of
math and to see how it works.
     "We don't want the children just to memorize
mathematical principles," McCormick said. "We also want them
to think about what they are doing in order to understand
math."
     Parents also are drawn to the program. According to
McCormick, many of them like the philosophy that math can be
fun, and they want to see their children enriched by such a
positive learning experience. Others view time spent in the
program as an alternative to Saturday morning television.
     Parents of children who are having difficulty with math
look to the program as a positive experience that may help
turn their children's attitudes around.
     For parents with daughters, the program affirms that
girls are just as capable as boys when it comes to
mathematics and the use of computers.
     The program also gives children who do not have access
to a computer in the home a chance to get some hands-on
experience with one.
     The program consistently has a waiting list, McCormick
said. "We always have people who are disappointed because
their kids cannot be enrolled." Enrollments are taken on a
first-paid, first-served basis.
     For McCormick, who teaches pre-service teachers at
Delaware State University, the program is a reminder that
serving the needs of children should be the goal of all
educators.
     "If I get too far away from the children, I lose touch
with what teaching is all about," McCormick said. "Saturday
Morning Math gives me an opportunity to keep my hands in the
teaching experience."
     Saturday Morning Math is offered during the fall,
winter and spring semesters at UD.
     For more information, contact the Mathematics and
Science Education Resources Center at 831-4447.
                                               -Jerry Rhodes