I had a great visit with parents at the Gifted Resource Council on November 1, 2025. The topic was how to get kids interested in math. We did a little hands-on math to show how getting students involved in “active math” is a great way to keep them interested throughout the teaching process. I took them through tracing shapes without lifting your pencil to the Seven Bridges of Königsberg to the introduction of graph theory. I went through the WHY of solving math puzzles, how even simple puzzles often lead to important discoveries.
Some examples:
- Magic Squares -> Matrix Algebra
- Machine Learning
- Artificial Intelligence
- Prime Number Theory -> Cryptography
- Seven Bridges of Königsberg -> Graph Theory
- Internet
- Social Media (friendship mapping)
- GPS best route algorithms
- Organ donor matching
We discussed how math is NOT about computation; it’s about solving problems!
We discussed how we can get kids actively involved in math by showing them real-life applications of math.
- When cooking, talk about measurements aloud
- When shopping, compare quanties and prices (great opportunity to practice estimating)
- This is 25% off – how much will that save us?
- Which one of these is a better deal?
- Question numbers you see in the media to help them get a sense of the value of numbers
- “Teen vaping increased by 200% this year.” – 200% of what? Did the numbers go from 1% to 3% or from 20% to 60%? (both are 200% increases, but the latter represents a bigger problem)
- “The average salary in Silicon Valley is $180,000.” – Is that mean or median? Are low-income workers being overshadowed by a few ultra-high earners?
- “Test scores rose 10 points after the new curriculum.” – Did the scores go from 80 to 90 (a 12.5% increase) or from 750 to 760 (a 1.3% increase)
- Never say things like “I was never very good at math.”
I did a demonstration of cutting various knots in half (simple knot, Mobius strip, knot with two twists) and seeing the difference in the results.
I closed with talking about how we need to get kids (and adults, for that matter) to see the magic behind mathematics. When we do this, we will view math in a different light and be encouraged to learn more.