Mathematics that is beautiful and a source of wonder!

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Mathematics Every Child Needs was inspired by and created for Amelia & Nella. Proceeds provide free resources for parents & children.

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ABOUT MATHEMATICS EVERY CHILD NEEDS

by George Gadanidis, PhD

powerful, ACCESSIBLE, surprising MATHEMATICS

I have spent hundreds of mornings and afternoons co-teaching in grades K-9 classrooms, engaging children with mathematical ideas that are conceptually powerful, accessible, and surprising, like, “You can hold infinity in your hand”, “Odd numbers hide in squares” and “Parallel lines can meet.”

Volumes 1-3 of Mathematics Every Child Needs offer 12 of these mathematical ideas as conceptual art, in the form of placemats.

As a parent, you may use the placemats on your kitchen table to invite math to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

As a teacher, you may use the placemats with students working in pairs and small groups. You may also display them in your classroom as mathematical art.

The placemats come with investigation tasks. The teaching guide provides solutions, extensions, and coding puzzles.

The placemats and activities offer students, parents and teachers opportunities to learn mathematics in-depth, by making connections between concepts, and seeing trajectories across grades.

MATHEMATICS WORTHY OF ATTENTION

In the youngest classrooms I have worked in (typically K-4), children often shared their learning at home, and parents sent feedback to teachers in the form of “What did your child share with you?” and “What did you learn?”

Parent comments have included: “I loved her excitement and her complete understanding and explanation of it all”, “I was surprised how easily my son grasped it all” and “I want more homework like this”.

REFORM, OCCASIONALLY

Our research-based reform model focuses on occasionally engaging students with mathematics experiences that are complex, accessible, surprising and emotionally engaging (Gadanidis, Borba, Hughes, Lacerda, 2016).

Such experiences live fruitfully in future experiences (Dewey, 1938) by raising expectation and anticipation — for students, parents and teachers — of the intellectual and emotional rewards — the pattern, beauty and wonder — that mathematics can offer.

Try this activity on infinity: https://learnx.ca/mt/infinity-overview. We first designed this experience when grade 3 teachers asked for ideas for teaching area representations of fractions.

RESEARCH

Variations of the activities in Mathematics Every Child Needs have been used in a number of research and outreach projects and publications with colleagues from Canada, Brazil and Norway: Marcelo Borba (UNESP), Janette Hughes (Ontario Tech University), Siri Krogh-Nordby (OsloMET University), Immaculate Namukasa (Western University) and Ricardo Scucuglia (UNESP).

MATH TRAVELS

Mathematics Every Child Needs was initially published in 2024 as Math Travels, and was offered freely to Faculties of Education across Canada, Brazil and Norway, and to school districts that have participated in research and outreach projects (with placemat tasks translated to Portuguese by Ricardo Scucuglia and to Norwegian by Siri Krogh-Nordby). The new title explicitly identifies the goal of this mathematics learning and teaching resource.

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• ^{Dewey, J. (1938). Experience & education. NY: Collier Books.}
• ^{Egan, K. (2002) Getting it Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressive Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.}
• ^{Gadanidis, G., Borba, M., Hughes, J. and Lacerda, H. (2016). Designing aesthetic experiences for young mathematicians: A model for mathematics education reform. International Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 6(2), 225-244.}
• ^{Piaget, J. (2008). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development 51(1), 40-47. (Original work published 1972).}

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AUTHOR

I am Professor of Mathematics Education at Western University and Lifetime Fellow of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences.

I have also worked as teacher of mathematics, science, and computer science, as mathematics and computer science department lead, as district-wide mathematics coordinator, and as content and digital resource developer for various publishers.

I enjoy co-teaching and co-learning in mathematics classrooms.

ART

Art by Aileen Lin & Ann Langeman. Design by George Gadanidis.

^{Variations of some of the placemats (#2 & 3) were previously designed as research performances by George Gadanidis, rendered artistically by Ann Langeman, with the original art donated to schools.}

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