Harkness Teaching Adds Up To Math Opportunities Worldwide

August 20, 2007

Students work together to solve math problems in a Harkness classroom

The Harkness teaching method is proving profitable for students and teachers, even when they are as far away from Exeter as California and the Far East.

This summer, as in every summer for the last 11 years, the Exeter Mathematics Institute literally hopped on a plane and took the Harkness method to thousands of teachers across the country. Since 1997, when the on-campus initiative evolved into a traveling program to reach more teachers, EMI has visited more than 25 cities and helped about 2,500 educators learn to make math more fun and applicable to students’ lives.

Founder, director and math instructor Eric Bergofsky says EMI is unique for several reasons: expenses have been covered by a foundation grant since 1991; “each workshop is tailored to fit the district’s training needs and desires; and EMI does not promote products, like computer software or learning materials.” Instead, EMI promotes problem solving and good mathematics in a student-centered environment. Workshops which focus on algebra, geometry, and all levels of high school mathematics are usually held in five to six cities every summer.

A wide range of school districts have participated in EMI the last 11 years. Selection is based on a school system’s size—not too big and not too small—with sufficient teacher participation and interest, and administration support. The summer’s last workshop was in San Diego, and included more than 50 teachers and four PEA math faculty. With an anticipated 30-percent shortage of teachers in the San Diego County school system in the next five years, EMI proved to be an important part of training the next generation of math teachers.

For students, Harkness math has led to worldwide discovery and praise. This year, Keone Hon and Sherry Gong, who graduated this spring, served as co-captains of a team of 15 students that won first in the nation at the American Regions Mathematics League at Penn State University. Gong went on to serve last month on the U.S. team at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Hanoi. And this month, she will serve as one of eight high school girls on the first U.S. team to compete in the China Girls Mathematical Olympiad, held in Beijing. Math instructor Zuming Feng, director of the Math Olympiad Summer Program since 2003, was one of the event’s three team coaches.

China has now expanded the program to include Canada, South Africa and Australia. U.S. sponsors of the competition are keenly interested in supporting girls in math and science to diminish the current scarcity. Dr. Laura Haas, IBM Distinguished Engineer and Director of Computer Science at IBM Almaden Research Center, has worked closely with the girls. In a recent MSRI press release, she says, “We are thrilled to help prepare these young women for the Olympiad—the experience of a lifetime.” While women count for almost 50 percent of the working population, less than 28 percent of computer scientists and nine percent of engineers are women, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Haas says, “At IBM, we believe that it is imperative to actively encourage and support young women’s interest in math and science at all levels. And this is one more way we can do so.”

Interested in learning more?

Read more about Exeter’s math department…
Read San Diego Union Tribune’s story on the EMI workshop…
Read Mathematics Science Research Institute’s press release on China Girls Math Olympiad…
Read about Exeter’s performance at this year’s ARML math competition…
Read about Exeter’s performance at the 2007 U.S. Math Olympiad…
Learn more about Exeter’s teachers…