A little over a year ago I began to notice a number of posts on Twitter about MathStart books coming from an account with the intriguing handle @MathsStories (MathsThroughStories).This was a wonderful mystery! Who was this kindred spirit?
I followed the digital clues which led to Vince (also known as Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai), a Lecturer in Primary Mathematics Education at the Institute of Education at the University of Reading in England. It turned out he was just about to launch the MathThroughStories website, an extraordinary resource for educators all over the world who are interested in using literature for teaching of mathematics to children. Currently, Vince's team is working with 52 researchers and educators in forty countries.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Math—and stories—truly are universal languages.
Now to encourage the next generation of math storytellers, MathsThroughStories just announced the first annual Young Mathematical Story Author Competition. This is very exciting news!
The judges panel includes Vince, Stuart and Cindy Neuschwander, author of the Sir Cumference books, with sponsorship by two top publishers, HarperCollins and Charlesbridge.
This is an extraordinary opportunity for young writers! The winners (there are two entry categories) will each receive an award of £100. Their schools will also each receive £100.
The winners of the Stuart J. Murphy Award and the Cindy Neuschwander Award will be featured, along with their schools—and, of course, their stories —on the MathsThroughStories website. Since its launch in March 2017, the website has been visited by more than 30,000 teachers and parents from over 160 countries.
The more stories we can share about math (or, as Vince says, "maths"), the better. It's a fun process, but not always easy. Many of the MathStart stories took months of work to the get storytelling and the math just right. Make sketches and story boards. Start to notice how math is used in every day life.
To help get you started, here is an article by Stuart about The Making of a MathStart Book.
I followed the digital clues which led to Vince (also known as Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai), a Lecturer in Primary Mathematics Education at the Institute of Education at the University of Reading in England. It turned out he was just about to launch the MathThroughStories website, an extraordinary resource for educators all over the world who are interested in using literature for teaching of mathematics to children. Currently, Vince's team is working with 52 researchers and educators in forty countries.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Math—and stories—truly are universal languages.
Now to encourage the next generation of math storytellers, MathsThroughStories just announced the first annual Young Mathematical Story Author Competition. This is very exciting news!
The judges panel includes Vince, Stuart and Cindy Neuschwander, author of the Sir Cumference books, with sponsorship by two top publishers, HarperCollins and Charlesbridge.
This is an extraordinary opportunity for young writers! The winners (there are two entry categories) will each receive an award of £100. Their schools will also each receive £100.
The winners of the Stuart J. Murphy Award and the Cindy Neuschwander Award will be featured, along with their schools—and, of course, their stories —on the MathsThroughStories website. Since its launch in March 2017, the website has been visited by more than 30,000 teachers and parents from over 160 countries.
The more stories we can share about math (or, as Vince says, "maths"), the better. It's a fun process, but not always easy. Many of the MathStart stories took months of work to the get storytelling and the math just right. Make sketches and story boards. Start to notice how math is used in every day life.
To help get you started, here is an article by Stuart about The Making of a MathStart Book.