JULIA ROBINSON MATH FESTIVALS FOR THE LOVE OF

JULIA ROBINSON MATH FESTIVALS FOR THE LOVE OF MATH RAJ SHAH PH. D. & TRAVIS SPERRY - MATH PLUS ACADEMY

FOR THE LOVE OF MATH • We LOVE math and want to spread that love to others • We wanted to create a math festival in Columbus, OH • Discovered JRMF through Dan Finkel (Math For Love) • Goal: To change the focus from right & wrong to trial & error

HOW JRMF WORKS • Three to four hour event • Featuring tables of rich, deep mathematical problems • Staffed by professors, teachers, grad students, etc. • Where students are free to engage in any problem

FOLDING FRACTALS • Get a long strip of paper • Fold it in half, right over left • Fold it in half again, right over left • Open the strip, note the pattern of ⋀ and ⋁ folds • What do you notice?

VISION • Inspire a life-long curiosity for mathematics by instilling a genuine interest in creative problem solving for an early age.

HISTORY • Founded by Nancy Blachman, recreational math enthusiast • Named after the late Julia Robinson, mathematics professor at the University of California. Best known for her solution to Hilbert’s Tenth Problem. • Started in 2007 at Google and funded by AIM • Hosted throughout the US, including Google, Pixar, Stanford and UC Berkeley.

OUR EXPERIENCE (LAST TWO YEARS) • Grew from 130 to 160 students from 4 th to 10 th grade • Cost: ~$3, 000 (venue, resources, marketing, stipends) • Planning Time: ~80 hours

OUR EXPERIENCE (DETAILS) • Recruiting Volunteers: • Exploit personal networks • Partner with local college math department • Activities: • Hands-on activities work best • Add games to give kids a break • Tell parents to give kids freedom to explore and make mistakes • Marketing: • Distribute flyers via public and private schools • Leverage social media channels • Call on personal networks