Unraveling Math with HeyMath!Zone

We always pride ourselves on the fact that our content enables students to learn Math using multiple intelligences. Taking this a step forward, we are happy and proud to formally announce the inauguration of the HeyMath! Zone which is a state of the art, cheerful and interactive learning environment. The purpose of HeyMath! Zone is to aid students to have a holistic understanding of the mathematical concepts they learn in class.

As a part of the solution we offer a range of interactive elements, teaching and learning tools to enhance and complement text book learning. These include state of the art technology - a laptop preloaded with HeyMath! resources, Math Concept Posters, interactive elements - all this while using the space within the classroom effectively.

The digital and interactive activities created for the HeyMath! Zone class involve active participation from the student. We also provide a systematic way of carrying out the activities which is of help to the teachers and students. The digital Math Lab lessons are created under the esteemed guidance of veteran educator Saroja Sundarajan. The interactive elements as well as the posters in the the HeyMath! Zone are conceptualized and designed in house with constant feedback from teachers. This combination of world class digital lessons and interactive components enables the teacher to effectively demonstrate, explain and demystify the abstractions which may cloud the student's understanding.

The emphasis is laid upon identifying mathematical phenomena in daily lives and marveling at its ubiquitous existence. This is our way of ensuring that the students take the time to observe the world around them, let their imagination take wings and be able to express what they observe in the context of Math.

Whether it is bringing to life the good old ice candy sticks or using number cards or even having a Mughal caricature to measure the length of his writing quill, the HeyMath!Zone lessons combine art, history and the environment to provide a thrilling experience to the students and help break the monotony of the world of black and white books.

For details on the affordable HeyMath! Zone solution please contact us at 044-43481506, 044-43481509 or mail us at youngworld@heymath.com

HeyMath Summer Camp

HeyMath is piloting a Summer Camp in Chennai for school children in classes 4-8 in the month of May, for which we seek partners in Chennai, who will be interested in running the Summer Camp from their homes. We are looking for people who are enterprising , have a good social network, a passion for Maths, love interacting with school children, willing to put in a minimum of 3 hrs a day and are interested to earn extra income working from home. For further details / queries, please contact S. Manoj at manoj.s@heymath.com.

Content Management System - A New Avatar

The Lesson Tree (content management system) now has a new avatar!

What’s changed?

- Icons now have a new look

- Easier navigation between topics and lesson resources

- Two different views for you to choose from

- A brief description on each lesson when your cursor hovers over the lesson link


Why should you be excited?

For teachers and site administrators, managing content on the lesson tree is now easier than ever before! You can create new folders, delete files or lock/unlock a file and even rearrange lessons through a simple ‘drag n drop’ process – all this without even having to navigate away from the main screen!

To help you understand how all the new features work, we’ve included a help file. You can access this anytime by clicking on the icon.

So go ahead… take a look at the new lesson tree and let us know what you think!

Introducing US Algebra 1 Package

Our Algebra 1 and Pre-Algebra lesson resources were developed based on pedagogical inputs from eminent math educators from the US. They have tested the effectiveness of these resources in their classrooms and have given us great feedback. The highly interactive flash based lesson resources aim at driving deeper conceptual learning and critical thinking. The Exploration Tools and Graphers that are part of the package are designed to motivate and encourage experimentation and discovery on the part of the learner. With data and examples drawn from environment to sports, the package strives to make Algebra 1 relevant and rigorous.

TEACHER WORK ATTACHMENT WITH HEYMATH!

My name is Halil and I am a Maths teacher from Queenstown Secondary School. Recently, I had the opportunity to be part of the HeyMath! family during my Teacher Work Attachment (TWA) from 5-25 October 2008. As part of the TWA, I had a first hand experience of working life in HeyMath’s R & D center in Chennai, India as well as got exposure to the school system in India.

The objective of this attachment was to focus on closing the gaps with more interactive activities for weaker learners in Singapore. In addition, the HeyMath! Team assisted me in creating online activities to engage the pupils and instill in them an interest towards learning Mathematics.

Besides that, HeyMath! also gave me a chance to teach in two of the schools here in Chennai, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School and Vidya Mandir School. It was such an enriching experience for me to teach the students here in Chennai. I took a lesson on ‘Introduction to Exponents’ and incorporated HeyMath! into the instruction. Students were very engaged and found the lesson very useful and interesting.

At HeyMath!, I have been able to gain new perspectives on education and I most certainly would like to collaborate further with HeyMath!. Thank you HeyMath! for giving me this opportunity.

StoryMath! – Generating Mathematical Sparks

On the 4^th of July we premiered our first edition of StoryMath, entitled “The Perfect Arrangement”, to a rapturous response:

“This story really shows how Math can be applied in real life situations and inspires really shows true wit. Keep it going!”

Ritika Ravachandra - Methodist Girls' School - age 13

“It is a awesome story. Even though I love stories, I have never read a wonderful story abt maths like this and of course the last page was very funnnnnyyyyy. It is a lovely story where young kids love.”

Janani Priyadharshni M - PSBB Schools - age 14

“I like this story because we can learnt more about math and i like it, I hope that heymath will put more story like this...wakakakaka”

Nurfazirah Bte Misdi – Xingnan Primary School - age 10

StoryMath! was conceived as a way to put math in a fresh light. We wanted to address the widespread perception of math as a boring “can’t do” subject. Math is a world brimming with inventors, geniuses and unsolvable problems. And at its heart is the evolution of human ideas! Shouldn’t experiencing the “wow” moment be intrinsic to learning math?

Presenting math using the familiar and engaging medium of storytelling seemed to be the obvious approach to achieve our aim. Stories put math in an entirely new context. They help to entrench mathematical ideas in inquisitive minds. And hey, like any good story, our stories encourage and develop imagination, empathy, literacy and understanding of the world.

Our first story “The Perfect Arrangement” is about how one resourceful restaurant owner uses the amazing math of ordering to figure out that there are more than 3.5 million different ways for 10 people to seat themselves at a table. In doing so, she manages to subdue 10 squabbling scholars with a clever trick! The story comes with a fun interactive exploration into the math behind this trick. And as one 22 year old put it:

“Something very unusual just happened, I understood some maths! […] Seriously though, that was so clearly put, I wish I had been taught maths like that, maybe I would have understood it better. It appealed to my sense of logic too. I always felt I should have liked maths. Maybe one day I'll do an evening class in it.”

I think we can proudly say that the first edition of StoryMath! has generated mathematical sparks. We will strive to make its future editions equally inspiring!

Discover StoryMath! for yourself!

Making Math Social

We’re pleased to announce an exciting new way for our users to collaborate when learning math. You may ask “how math can be social?” Well, we’ve developed some easy to use tools that allow you to interact with your friends and the whole web world.

We’re calling the feature ‘Mathlets’ – an acronym for Math-Learning-Teaching-Sharing. It’s still in Beta but here’s what the page looks like on Google’s OpenSocial platform Orkut

To start with you can see what lessons are being read by your friends and what everyone else is interested in for that matter. We’ve also made it possible for you to create a journal, add links and even add a video to make a personalized copy of the lesson – which you can then share with all your freeloader friends …and if you prefer instant help, we’ve linked in Google Talk for you to collaborate in real time.

At HeyMath! we believe that collaboration and math are natural partners. From the days of Pythagoras – who incidentally worked in a large team – right up to the design of the Faculty of Mathematics at Cambridge University, it has been well understood that talking about math to peers is vital.

Happy learning…teaching… and sharing!