AMS Math League Overview

Goals

Prepare students for the Math League contests scheduled for later in the year (February and April). The top 5 student scores will be averaged to determine AMS’ ranking relative to other schools.
Learn advanced problem solving skills. We will try not to introduce math concepts beyond the 8th grade level, but we will expose them to challenging problems that use basic math in ways that students probably have not seen before.
Engender a passion for math through enjoyable, competitive game playing and fascinating, meaningful problems.
Foster collaboration skills. Learn effective strategies for maximizing team effectiveness through competition.

Meetings

Wednesdays in room W-9, 2:55–3:55pm.

Sept. 28
Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26
Nov. 2, 9, 30
Dec. 7, 14
Jan. 4, 11, 18, 25
Feb. 2, 8, 15, 22, 29 (8th grade contest in February)
Mar. 7, 14, 28
April 11, 18 (Algebra contest in mid April)
May 9, 16, 23, 30
June 6

Overview

I believe that competition can be a great motivator for the kids—especially the over achievers that are likely to be in this program. Still we have to be careful that no one feels disheartened or left because they are “losing”. For this reason, I propose that we record both individual and team scores as we progress through the year. At the end of the year, we can do some sort of awards for the top team and top individual performers. Having fun solving challenging problems should be the primary motivation for active participation, however. Nobody will fail math league, and it is completely independent from their regular school evaluation.

Teams will be created that are well balanced in terms of ability. Ideally, each team will have a balance of players with different skills. An initial written assessment test (that I create) will be used to help determine the teams. The size of the team will depend on how many students participate. Probably 6 teams of 4 or 5 students on each team would be best. Teams will remain relatively fixed throughout the year so that team members have a chance to develop some camaraderie. Also players may be less likely to be absent if they think they might be letting their team down. Similarly, students might be motivated to be more involved if they feel part of a team rather than being on their own.

I would like to have a schedule where we alternate between playing the team game and individual assessment/learning. It could work like this:

week 1: Words of introduction. Explain what to expect and what is expected of them. Give the half hour initial assessment test.

week 2: Tell them what the teams are. Let them come up with team names. Play a variation of the team competition game. Record team scores.

week 3: Give a 30 minute assessment test. Go over two or three problems from the test. Give a mini lesson on some topic. During the next game session, questions will be related to that topic. Give bonus problem to ponder until next week.

week 4: Game session. Collect bonus problem solutions. Distribute initial tokens (with additional tokens for correct solutions to bonus problem). Play the game. Record team scores.

week 2n − 1: 30 minute test. Discuss problems on test. Perhaps have students describe their solutions on the board. Give mini lesson. Give bonus problem.

week 2n: Game session based on mini lesson from previous week.

At the end of each test session give a challenge problem for them to ponder until the following week. Only written solutions (in students own handwriting) will be accepted. For correct solutions, add one token to initial number of tokens for that player’s team during the next game playing session. Bonus problem will be related to mini-lesson.

Record both individual and team scores in an excel spreadsheet for data analysis. We may show aggregated statistics of these scores with names removed on the website.

Team token penalties may be assessed for infractions like talking out of turn, cheating, or other sorts of unsportsmanlike conduct. The token penalties should be described up front so the students know what behavior is expected.