Mathematics Resources for Families

There are oodles of resources for students and families who want to learn more mathematics on their own. Books, websites, and mathematics competitions offer kids of all ages opportunities to build critical thinking skills. I have reviewed some, and those I like are included here, but check your local library for more, using search words like 'Mathematics and literature', 'Mathematics contests', 'Elementary mathematics', and of course just 'Mathematics'.

Looking for a math tutor for yourself or your child? The Mathematical Sciences Department keeps a list of students majoring in mathematics who are interested in tutoring students in grades K-12, especially those in junior high and high school. Contact the Department office (Jean McCauslin: 717-766-2511, x7283) for more information. Typical pay rates range from $10-$20 per hour for undergraduates, depending on the amount of preparation expected of the tutor and who is responsible for travel time. Some tutors can travel to your home - others prefer to meet at the College library.

The text The Wonderful World of Mathematics: A Critically Annotated List of Children's Books in Mathematics, by Diane Thiessen and Margaret Matthias, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in 1998, is a good resource for educators, parents, and home-schooling families. It lists childrens' books with mathematical themes, mostly for kids in younger grades. It is also a good resource for elementary education majors at Messiah College.

Here are some books I enjoy reading with kids in grades K-8: (all of these are available at the Messiah College library)

• I'll Teach my Dog 100 Words. Michael Frith, author and P.D. Eastman, illustrator. Best for kindergartners or early readers, this book is in the Dr. Seuss-style. It's really a book about words and opposite-pairs, but it does begin to develop number sense.
• Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday. Judith Viorst, author and Ray Cruz, illustrator. For kids in grades 1-3, this short book focuses on number sense and money in an entertaining way.
• The Doorbell Rang. Pat Hutchines, author. Imagine that you just baked a plateful of cookies and visitors start arriving at your door. How can you divide the cookies among the increasing number of guests? Grades 1-3, develops ideas of grouping and division.
• The Greedy Triangle. Marilyn Burns, author. A triangle tries to make his life more interesting by adding sides and becoming a square, pentagon, hexagon, etc. Which shape has the best life? A good introduction to geometric shapes for grades 1-4.
• One Hundred Hungry Ants. Elinor J. Pinczes, author and Bonnie Mackain, illustrator. One hundred ants are going to a picnic. In ant-like fashion, they march in a line, but how many rows can they make? This is a good starting point for discussions about prime numbers and factoring: grades 3-6.
• Round Trip, by Ann Jonas. This book is not about math, but geometry and symmetry fill the illustrations. Read the book forward and take a trip. Then turn the whole book over and read it upside down and backward for a whole new set of pictures and another trip. Grades 1-6.
• The Dot & the Line, by Norton Juster. A straight line falls madly in love with a dot, but how can he impress her? By learning to bend and twist into all kinds of impressive and beautiful constructions. A well-written and beautifully illustrated geometrical fiction for grades 4-8.
• The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. In the kingdom of Wisdom, which is greater - words or numbers? Join a bored little boy named Milo as he takes a fantasy road trip to the Land of Expectations, Doldrums, Dictionopolis, and Digitopolis. The book is 250 pages, probably written at a grade 6-8 reading level.

For high school and college students who want to learn more about career opportunities in mathematics, the following are helpful:

• 101 Careers in Mathematics. Andrew Sterrett, editor, 2nd edition. Published by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA: www.maa.org). This book contains one-page summaries of the career experiences of 101 professionals whose undergraduate degree is in mathematics. The careers vary widely, and the book gives readers a broad picture of the array of professional opportunities available to those with strong mathematical skills, even if there interest is in art or journalism or business.
• Great Jobs for Math Majors by Stephen Lambert and Ruth J. DeCotis. This book guides math majors through the process of discovering their strengths and ideal careers and also covers the job search process. It's a useful book even for those who are years away from a job search but want to start planning now.
• Finally, Flatland, by E.A. Abbott, is a fun story about life in a two-dimensional universe. Polygons are men, line segments are women, circles are priests, and what in the world does a cube look like when it visits Flatland from the third dimension? Written at a high school level, this book is enjoyable to read, a good review of basic geometry, and an introduction to ideas about higher dimensions.

The number of websites related to mathematical topics is (practically) infinite. Here are a few that I reference often.

• Math League: www.mathleague.com. Math leagues exist to promote friendly problem-solving competition among junior high and senior high teams,organized by school, state, and region. Even if your school does not have a team, you can access contest books, answers, and other helpful resources at this site. The site is most useful for kids in grades 4-12.
• Mathematical Association of America: www.maa.org. This national mathematics association exists primarily for math faculty at colleges and universities. Faculty present their research related to mathematics and math education at national meetings every winter and summer. The Association publishes several journals and many books, some of which are geared to high school and college students.
• The Math Forum: www.mathforum.org. Housed at Drexel University, this site contains a broad range of resources for students (K-college), teachers, and families. "Ask Dr. Math" is a math-specific search engine at the Math Forum, and a "Problem of the Week" is posted regularly.