I have been a part of Math Club, ever since I joined UWCSEA in middle school. Over the years, Ive seen the different leaders of the club, adopt different methods of engaging the students. The club, which had over 25 students when I was in grade 9, had only 7, when I was in grade 10. This was probably because the mode of instruction to the students was vastly different. While in grade 9, math club consisted of people in groups attempting questions on the board, in grade 10 we followed a more traditional teacher-giving-lecture format and this failed to hold the students’ attention. With this knowledge, I have tried to adapt the way in which I lead the club. I want the students to be engaged with one another, in order to solve the more interesting sums which evokes more discussion. However, I also wanted them to develop individual skills needed for sitting the traditional mathematics competitions held in UWCSEA like UKMT, AMC, CEMC, ASMA etc, which the students of math club always sign up for.

As a result, at the start of the school year, Math Club was perhaps the most challenging to lead. To find mathematical problem sets for students of quite a diverse age range, which would challenge them, yet not demotivate them, was a very difficult balance to strike. There were of course quite a few misses, as students would give up hope on the sums and start to talk to each other instead. For example, I initially tried to establish a competitive mood by giving them individual worksheets to tackle. Without the collaborative spirit, they would skip the most interesting (and challenging questions) and attempt the easier ones.  Upon realising this, I changed the activities I had planned, in order to encompass more team work. Students were then more engaged, and started to help each other in order to try the sums they had originally chosen to ignore. The satisfaction they gained from successfully solving these harder sums was also more evident. Over the weeks, I have started to use more digital resources like Ted Ed videos, Khan Academy videos etc, which provides very engaging and original content. I have also discovered that intelligence agencies like the CIA, FBI, NSA have put forth code breaking challenges for the public to solve. This session was a surprisingly interesting one for the students.

Over the weeks, I think maths club has become more enjoyable, for not only me, but for all the members. Mathematics is a very important although underrated part of life. I hope to ensure that the club stands for this, and thus applies the theory of pure mathematics in a real way, like through the code breakers.

Here is the planning doc which contains ALL the activities I have planned for each session, as well as the feedback I received from each.

… and here is an interesting problem that baffled many students :

Learning outcomes highlighted:

• increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
• undertaken new challenges
• planned and initiated activities
• worked collaboratively with others
• shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
• developed new skills