Over the last two days, we have participated in KPRU’s math
camp. This is a 2 day event the
upperclassmen put on for the freshman of KPRU and neighboring
universities. This camp is a bonding
experience for the freshman as well as training for them for when the education
department puts on the camp for K12 students.
The days are full of fun activities relating to math. The students are all divided into 12 teams in
which they compete in the various activities.
Saturday the students began the day in an opening ceremony
full of song and dance. This prepared
the students for all the songs they would be doing all day throughout the
camp. We learned a few songs before
camp, but there were still a lot we did not know. They were fun to catch on to and very
upbeat. All day, the camp staff
(upperclassmen) would sing these songs and dance as a filler whenever there was
thinking time or transition time. There
was never a quiet moment. Students were
always singing, drumming on bongos, playing tambourines, anything to make
noise. The energy was so upbeat and
positive the whole camp. This was a very
different atmosphere than America. We
are not use to the constant drumming, singing, and dancing. I really enjoyed how they tried to keep it
engaging and fun.
The first part of the camp was stations in which the groups
rotated every 15 minutes. Each station
was a small activity/task involving simple equation solving or using problem
solving skills. Some of that tasks
included Geometry Sudoku, traveling along a number line the number of spaces
that was the answer to an equation, logic puzzles, dominos with equations,
etc. I travels with a group to every
station to observe what all was done. I
was able to do some of the tasks with my Thai friends, but others were too hard
as they were all written in Thai alphabet.
I did notice though as the day went on that the communication between my
Thai friends and I had gotten stronger from out first day together. My Thai was a little better and their English
was a little better. This made it easier
for us to communicate. One of the
funnier aspects of the camp was their form of “punishment”. Throughout each station, the punishment for a
wrong answer would to throw baby power on your face. A whole handful of baby power, making your
face white. Sometimes, the students
would get to powered a teammate or one of the group leaders. This was very strange to us as I figured it
would make some people made. However,
everyone was very understanding and willing to participate.
At night, we had a giant bond fire with skits, songs, and
dances. The campfire modeled some
African traditions. They started by
having a candle lighting ceremony where everyone help a lit candle, and then
took it to the center to place in giant pot to make one big light. Next, some of the boys dressed barbarians and
danced with lit torches. They then lit
the campfire to start the night. The
rest of the night was full of skits from the groups and dances from the
leaders. The groups performed skits
which acted out a story problem. Even
though they spoke I all Thai, they were very funny to watch.
Sunday was full of team competition activities. The included an intelligence test, math art, and
guess who. During math art, each group had to draw something they likes about
the camp. It also had to include some
math content. We created a sign as the
American group. We noticed everyone was
doing the campfire so we chose to do the music.
We created a poster with the bongos and dancing people. Since we cannot speak good Thai, we decided
to dance some of their dances to show rhythm and pattern. We then taught the students the hokey
pokey. During this activity, we also go
to judge the posters. We walked around
during creation time and scored team work and creativity. Then we scored their presentation and
content. It was very sweet to have them
include us in the process. We were
honored to help judge and be a part of the activity.
The whole camp experience was very positive and
uplifting. It was very fun to
participate and see all the neat things they did with math. I really liked all the activities and games
they played with the students. There
were many more little things that happened throughout the days, but there was just
way too much to describe every detail.
Overall, this was a very exciting 2 days. This was something I have never seen in
American. All the energy and excitement about
math is something that is rare in the US.
I hope we can bring a lot of these ideas back to create a successful
camp. I want to expose others to this
open, positive environment and help them learn to love math through it.
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