New Tumblehome Learning/’Mixing in Math’ Partnership Broadcasted in Times Square!

New Tumblehome Learning/TERC partnership broadcasted over Times Square!

This past week, the question circulating around TERC’s physical and digital hallways was this: “Is that photo I saw on Facebook real?”

It is indeed! Our news release on the new Tumblehome Learning/’Mixing in Math’ partnership, announced by PR Newswire, was transmitted to the Reuters Sign in Times Square multiple times Tuesday through Friday of last week. Perhaps if you spent afternoons last week in Times Square, you may have caught a glimpse of the Food Fights, Puzzles, and Hideouts book cover!

So what’s this all about? Tumblehome Learning (THL), a non-traditional transmedia publishing company, has partnered with TERC to publish a ‘Mixing in Math’ suite of games and activities. Developed at TERC and based on work funded in part by the National Science Foundation*, these additions to the THL product line of science books and games include the book Food Fights, Puzzles, and Hideouts and the sets of games Jump Ship and Blockade. Spanning the key topics in the elementary grades’ Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, the products help parents, homeschooling families, librarians, and afterschool providers engage children ages 4-12 in the math of everyday activities.

In fact, Food Fights, Puzzles and Hideouts presents hundreds of full-color interdisciplinary math games, projects, and activities that can be done at home, at after-school programs, at school, or ‘mixed in’ to car rides, snack times, and parties. With the card deck Jump Ship players get nine fast-paced games and 22 different levels of play, and  Blockade packages eight dry-erase board games for 2-4 players and offers 28 game options.

Want to learn more or order any of these products? Please visit the official press release, or Tumblehome Learning’s site to order any of these resources for math learning at prices of $10.95 and under.

* ‘Mixing in Math’ has been funded in part by the National Science Foundation, (ESI-0406675, ESI-0714537, ESI-9901289), and has been extensively piloted with children, parents, and informal educators, including after-school providers, librarians, and family numeracy providers. Independent evaluation shows that the materials improve attitudes about math and build math skills and engagement among adults and children.

‘Mixing in Math’ Goes to Mom’s Homeroom!

We want to show (parents and kids) that there’s a lot of math in the things you already find fun!—Marlene Kliman, Mixing in Math

By most accounts, we consider modern, involved parents very lucky. Today’s parents have access to a vast array of products, resources and technologies to facilitate math learning for their children. But excess of choice comes with a high cost.  Research shows that too many choices often leads people to be less—not more—satisfied once they actually make a decision on a product or methodology. And ready access via the world wide web to research studies indicating the importance of informal math learning in fortifying everything from students’ conceptual understanding in the classroom to future STEM career pathways often makes parents feel MORE pressure to make the right decisions on math teaching products and techniques. Thus many parents in our LeapFrog®-inundated era encounter the following conundrums:

“What are the best tools and products to be using to help my kids become comfortable with math?”

“How can I help my kids become comfortable with math at home if I am not comfortable with my own math skills or if I didn’t like math as a kid?”

The answer is much more simple than many parents think. You can ‘mix in’ math— from measurement to estimation to algebra—into activities that you’re already doing with your kids using supplies you already have around the house. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Creating these tips, techniques, methodologies and activity adaptations is exactly what TERC’s Mixing in Math(MiM) project team has been doing for years. MiM Senior Scientist Marlene Kliman says it best, “we want to show (parents and kids) that there’s a lot of math in the things they already find fun!”

Click the above image of Marlene to visit Mom’s Homeroom and view the video!

In fact, Marlene—along with a local family—was just featured in a new video for Mom’s Homeroom— an online resource hosted by MSN and Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats—showcasing some of her favorite MiM activities for parents to easily implement into their kids’ everyday routines. Marlene shared 3 (of the roughly 200) MiM activities including Penny Jar, Soaring Towers, and Fair Shares that could be scaffolded up or down for varying age ranges (preK to 5^th grade) and math comfort levels.

Even better? All MiM activities are free, offered in English and Spanish, equally adaptable for classroom or informal settings, and available at: mixinginmath.terc.edu. Be sure to check them out and download your favorites—they’re kid-tested and mom/dad-approved!

Now Showing: A ‘Mixing in Math’ Webinar!

Mixing in Math (“MiM” for short) is a set of over 200 free, easy-to-use, and Common Core-aligned activities that situate math in the context of everyday experience. Aimed at ‘informal educators’ of children in grades preK-6 (including librarians, after-school providers, and parents), MiM activities comprise craft projects, posters, calendars, and games and span the topics of arithmetic, measurement, time, money, and patterns. MiM activities can be incorporated into an array of afterschool and informal settings, including game nights, story-times, or project times and adapted to groups of varying sizes—from 1 to one dozen. The MiM activity catalog has been developed with the input of hundreds of librarians and informal educators across the country.

MiM Senior Research Associate Nuria Jaumot-Pascual and the White Plains (NY) Public Library’s Children’s Librarian Deb Gaffey have presented many interactive MiM webinars. These hour-long offerings engage adult participants in doing MiM activities together and propel sharing of implementation and adaptation techniques. You can view one of their most recent webinars below, or by clicking here:

Full of great—and duly, accessible—tools and tips, this webinar helps kids AND the adults who work with them gain confidence and competence in math. If that’s not a compelling enough reason to tune in and give MiM a try—external evaluations found that after using MiM for an average of 1-2 years, 90% of librarians cited math as a “strong priority” in children’s library programming vs. 25% at baseline. AND MiM helped 75% of afterschool educators improve their abilities to engage children in math—with the same percentage reporting that children improved their math skills, enjoyment, and comfort. Looks like MiM got the “mix” of math and fun just right!

To learn more about MiM impact, download activities for free, or pick up a training guide, please visit: http://mixinginmath.terc.edu.