Alameda Math Circle

About

This is a website for the Alameda Math Circle, a group that meets weekly to explore new and exciting mathematics. The main goals of the math circle are to develop problem solving skills, learn new mathematical concepts, and understand how to communicate mathematical ideas clearly and precisely. Also, of course, we want to challenge ourselves and have a good time!

Sessions are not currently being held.

What do we do?

We explore all areas of mathematics! Here are some examples of topics we've covered:

Why Math Circle?

Learning mathematics is not all about manipulating symbols and memorizing times tables. We will try to bring life and exploration to the equations. Students who attend math circle will be exposed to math they might never see in a usual middle school curriculum.

So, what's the point? Is this math going to help them get A's in high school or college? Will the students need these skills if they want to pursue careers in technical fields? My answer is that these aren't the right questions to be asking. While it is very possible that, one day in the future, a student will encounter a concept that reignites memories of math lessons above Julie's Cafe, our real goals are deeper than this. I want to push students to think deeply about problems and to develop their analytic and logical skills, I want them to understand and explain their answers instead of just knowing the right numbers. I believe that if students develop these crucial skills they will be able to surpass any challenges a future math class or technical job might pose.

If this sounds appealing to you or your child I advise you to consider strongly the possibility of joining the Alameda Math Circle. In the short time it's been running I've noticed incredible improvements in students' abilities to reason about math and explain their thinking patterns. And I think they've had a pretty good time, too!

Who am I?

My name is Alex Zorn, and I'm a third year graduate student at UC Berkeley, working toward a Ph.D. I've spent a lot of time teaching math while I've been in school. While I was an undergrad at the University of Chicago I worked during the year and over the summers at the Young Scholars' Program, which was directed toward high school students from public schools in the Chicago area. I've also been a T.A. for calculus at Berkeley.

Join Math Circle

Schedule and Upcoming Meetings

Worksheets

Here are the worksheets that are handed out each week in class. In each topic there is also an "Overview" worksheet, which contains some broad information about the topic and some relevant discussion questions. Parents are encouraged to read the overview worksheets and engage in some of the questions with their children. The overview sheets are updated every week based on the material we covered during the session.

Rules

Any student who attends Alameda Math Circle must be prepared to behave well, listen, and show respect to the instructor. Our code of conduct can be downloaded here. Each student is expected to sign this sheet, which demonstrates that he or she understands the rules and the potential consequences if those rules are broken.

Contact Info

Instructor: Alex Zorn, awzorn@math.berkeley.edu;

Coordinator: Marie Latourelle, latourellemarie@hotmail.com;