An equation for high school math success

November 16, 2004

An equation for high school math success

by Kristen Loyst

	Dr. Richard Nowakowski and Paul Ottaway work out a puzzling Math League question.

Add one Dalhousie math professor, an enthusiastic teaching assistant, plus hundreds of high school students and their teachers, and you've got an equation for success. Through a unique outreach program, PhD student and teaching assistant Paul Ottaway and Dr. Richard Nowakowski are inspiring high school students and teachers by showing them a different and fun sideof mathematics.

The two are coordinators of the Dalhousie University Mathematics Outreach Program, an initiative to share expertise with Nova Scotia's high school math teachers, and get students interested in math by showing them that it's as much about imagination and creativity as learning basic rules. "One goal is to increase communication between high school and university teachers," says Nowakowski. "The long range goal is to improve themathematical experience of students at both levels."

Program activities include "Math Circles," a winter term lecture series for students, and regular workshops across the province for teachers, to help them enliven the high school math curriculum. A third component that is steadily growing in popularity is the Nova Scotia High School Math League, a series of fun team-based mathematics competitions designed to expand students' creative problem solving abilities and show them newapproaches to mathematics.

Following in the footsteps of Richard Hoshino and Sarah McCurdy, the two Dalhousie graduate students who initiated the program, Ottaway's teaching assistantship is devoted to outreach activities. "It's a lot more work than marking papers, but it's up my alley, and it's something I reallywanted to do," he says.

	First round Halifax Math League champions, Queen Elizabeth High School's Nadia DaJani, Aaron Ingersoll, Peter Crooks and Elias Machaalani.

Most recently, Ottaway and Nowakowski have been busy developing head-scratching problems for the Math League. Explaining the competition, Nowakowski says, "We're trying to inspire students and to encourage them to enjoy mathematics. If you're into sports, sitting in a classroom doesn't do anything for you. Many kids are into math, and they need a chance to exercise their brains, just as athletes need to exercise their bodies." The first round of the Halifax region Math League took place on October 28, with 103 students meeting in the Ondaatje Auditorium of the McCain building to flex their brains. Working in teams of three or four, the students puzzled through ten conventional questions, followed by two "relay" questions. Although every team turned in a top performance, the four-member crew from Queen Elizabeth High School emerged as the first round victors. Points accumulated in two further rounds will decide which teams will move on to the final, to face the top three Math League teams from Truro and Sydney.

Both organizers hope to get even more students involved in the future. "The Math League has been running for the past three years in the Halifax, Truro and Sydney regions, with student enrolment growing each year," Ottaway says. "We're collaborating with other school districts to expand involvement next year."