Global Math Week

Coming in October!

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The Global Math Project aims to engage students and teachers around the world in thinking and talking about the same appealing piece of mathematics during a series of annual Global Math Weeks. Inspired by the work of code.org, which makes coding accessible for millions of students across the globe, we will share the inherent joy, wonder, relevance, and meaning of mathematics with students everywhere and create a forum for the global celebration of creative mathematical thinking.

The very first Global Math Week takes place this fall. Beginning October 10, 2017, one million students will experience Exploding Dots, a favorite topic for MTCs everywhere that was developed by Global Math Project founding team member James Tanton. During Global Math Week itself, teachers and other math leaders are asked to commit to spending the equivalent of one class period on Exploding Dots, and to share their students’ experience with the Global Math Project community through social media. Teachers can choose a low-technology presentation format by using downloadable pdf lesson plans as a guide. Alternatively, they can opt for a technology-intensive experience, developed by the Canadian education technology company Scolab, which will consist of a collection of visually appealing “islands” representing Exploding Dots topics. For those who wish to delve deeper, additional materials will be freely available on the Global Math Project website to support further exploration of place value, arithmetic algorithms, negative numbers, alternative bases, polynomials, formal infinite series, and more.

As a Partner Organization for the Global Math Project, the MTC Network is asking our Member Circles to consider becoming involved in some or all of the following ways:

• Encourage your members to register for Global Math Week, and to spread the word to their colleagues and friends.
• Ask members to consider becoming official Global Math Project Ambassadors, who commit to building participation through posting on social media and helping organize local events.
• Host an Exploding Dots training session for Circle members and other interested educators in your area.

See mathematics like you’ve never seen it before and take part in a global conversation. Get started at http://gmw.globalmathproject.org.

This article originally appeared in the Summer/Autumn 2017 MTCircular.