Videos from the Circle in a Box

MSRI and the Akamai Foundation have built a web site to support all math circles.  The National Association of Math Circles provides links to programs across the country as well has suggestions for starting math circles where they do not yet exist.

The site continues to be updated and I recently noticed a page of videos that you may find interesting.

http://www.mathcircles.org/node/77

You may need to register in order to gain access to the videos.  In addition to videos hosted by NAMC they also pointed to this YouTube video featuring Paul Zeitz and Tatiana Shubin encouraging math teachers to develop circles of their own.

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SMMG – Dr. Starbird

Metroplex Math Circle will start again at UTD on September 19th, but our friends in Austin begin this week with a lecture by Dr. Starbird on Topology.  Some of you may be familiar with Dr. Starbird from his excellent lectures published by the Teaching Company.

Here is the information from the Saturday Morning Math Group:

Our first meeting of the semester will take place on September 12th.  Our speaker will be Dr. Mike Starbird, a professor of mathematics here at the University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Starbird has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, both locally and nationally.  He will be talking about “Doughnuts, Dogbones, and Topology”.  Come join the fun!

This semester, our meetings will be in FAC 21. FAC is the Flawn Academic Center, which is where our undergraduate library is situated. This building is immediately to the east of the Texas Union, near 24th and Guadalupe.

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AMS Article: Math Circles and Olympiads

Wenhua Ma brought an interesting article to our attention from the Notices of the AMS:

Math Circles and Olympiads, MSRI Asks:  Is the U.S. Coming of Age?

The Math Circle Experience

Extracurricular circles in a variety of subjects began in Hungary in the 1800s, all with the goal of providing young students opportunities to pursue personal interests to the fullest. Today they are considered a standard part of the Eastern-Europeanstudent experience, and participation in them is regarded as just as natural as participation in sports activities is viewed in the U.S. Although there is no set protocol to a math circle experience, all circles have the same goal of sharing the intellectual appeal and beauty of mathematics with as large an audience as possible. They engage faculty from both secondary and post-secondary institutions in their operation and successfully welcome students of all backgrounds to the mathematical experience.

Circles now exist in many countries, including the U.S. (see also [1], for instance), and follow multiple styles and approaches. Given the success of the Eastern European model it is natural to ask then whether some version(s) of the math circle experience could be incorporated into the U.S. cultural norm. Could even more be accomplished?

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