MathCounts Course Syllabus - Greenville Chinese School

MathCounts Course Syllabus Instructor: Dr. George Meng Time: 3:00-4:00pm every Sunday Location: Room 115

Instructor email: [email protected] Tel: 864-879-4099

About MathCounts Program: Currently in its 29th years, MATHCOUNTS is a national math competition and math club program for middle school students. The MathCounts Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Virginia, sponsors this program each year. MathCounts Competition program has written and oral rounds, as well as individual and team based components. MathCounts competition program is like a school “sport” program and the participants are often called the “Mathletes”. Each school has 6 mathletes competing in individual rounds, and 4 additional mathletes (total of 10) competing in the team rounds. MathCounts Competition has 4 progressive levels:  School Competition: Jan. 2012 at each school; top 10 finishers form school’s core team.  Chapter Competition: Feb. 2012 at Clemson University; average 10 chapters per state  State Competition: Mar. 2012 in Charleston; top 4 winners advance to next level  National Competition: May 2012 in Washington D.C. MathCounts Competition last ~3 hours and consist of 4 different rounds:  Sprint round: 30 problems in 40 minutes; test for quickness & accuracy; NO calculator.  Target round: 4 pairs of problems; 6 minutes per pair; multi-step problems. Calculator ok.  Team round: 10 problems in 20 minutes; team collaboration is key; Calculator ok.  Count-down round: fast-paced oral competition; single elimination; NO calculator. MathCounts Club program is a fun and challenging program and aims at engaging a wider spectrum of students than the competition program. MathCounts Club program provides the structure and activities to hold regular meetings of a math club. Chinese School’s MathCounts is just one of hundreds of MathCounts Club programs around the nation. This is a year-round fun and challenging program. While MathCounts competition materials and resources are used in the classroom, the program and training benefits not just the competitive Mathletes but also the average students with an interest in improving math problem solving skills in general. The class is taught in English only and is open to all middle school students. The program currently has 22 students from various ethnic backgrounds. Mathletes are required to represent their full-time home schools in all competitions, if they qualify. Mathletes not representing their full-time home schools can participate in the competitions with the Chinese School team. Course Contents: 1. In-class individual practice or team collaboration of MathCounts problems 2. In-class individual- or team-based fun competitions of MathCounts problems 3. MathCounts problem-solving demonstrations – using Dr. Meng’s unique “KISS The Queen” method and tools.

4. Summary & reviews of key math concepts 5. Chinese School MathCounts Competition: Sprint, Target, Team, and Countdown Rounds 6. Participate in Chapter Competition at Clemson University (usually in February each year) 7. 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math review: Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Geometry 8. Poker tournament: probability application in poker games 9. SWAG tournament: numerical sequence/pattern application in chess games 10. “Connect 4” tournament: fun games with multiplication and division 11. Participate in American Math Challenge (online math games and competition) 12. Participate in World Math Day (online math games and competition) Course Requirements/Expectations: 1. Students are expected to keep all handouts in one binder/folder and bring binder/folder to every class. We often review or re-visit materials from previous week(s). 2. In general, there are no mandatory homework assignments. Students work on problems in almost every class and we go over selected problems in class. If a student does not grasp 100% of the problems, he/she is expected to go over the problem(s) with a parent/guardian at home. If additional help is needed outside of the class, parents/students are welcome to contact the instructor for arrangement. Program Success Stories:          

Lilly Meng: 1st place, 2012 chapter team competition (with Sterling School) Annie Wang: 3rd place, 2012 Spartanburg chapter competition Matthew Siden: 4th place among all 7th graders, 2012 chapter competition Annabelle Yang: 7th place among all 7th graders, 2012 chapter competition. Improved 2012 ranking by 93 places from 2011. Jack Kerber: Improved 2012 ranking by 91 places from 2011 Amanda Xu: Improved 2012 ranking by 79 places from 2011 Cathy Chi: Improved 2012 ranking by 67 places from 2011 Andy Xu: 3rd place overall and Countdown 1st place, 2011 chapter competition 2012: 7 students qualified to represent full-time home schools in chapter competition 2011: 1 student qualified to represent full-time home schools in chapter competition

Weekly Lecture Plan (2011-2012): Week 1 (9/11/11):  Self introduction by each student: name, grade, school, hobbies…  Review course syllabus  Sprint round problems practice  Problem-solving demonstrations Week 2 (9/18/11):  Target round problems practice  Problem-solving demonstrations Week 3 (9/25/11):  Form 4 teams: each team elect a captain and choose a “cool” team name  Team round problems practice

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Problem-solving demonstrations

Week 4 (10/2/11):  Count-down round competition among teams Week 5 (10/9/11):  Silver Level Test #1  Awards (MathCounts pencils) to winners of Silver Level Test #1 (from each grade)  Problem-solving demonstrations Week 6 (10/16/11):  Hand out American Math Challenge user names and passwords  Students participate in American Math Challenge at home  Problems practice  Problem-solving demonstrations Week 7 (10/23/11):  Hand out certificates for participants of American Math Challenge  Review participants’ scores in American Math Challenge  Practice: problems of Halloween theme (collect & grade at home)  “Ask Marilyn” problem #1 (roll dice 20 times) – students work at home Week 8 (10/30/11):  Explain “Ask Marilyn” problem #1  Hand out prizes for Halloween test winners from last week  Explain Halloween problems Week 9 (11/6/11):  Practice: probability problem set  Collect & grade at home Week 10 (11/13/11):  Explain probability problem set  Problems: Are you smarter than 2nd grader? Week 11 (11/20/11):  Sprint round school competition  Collect & grade at home Week 12 (12/4/11):  Explain sprint round school competition problems Week 13 (12/11/11):  Multiplication Connect 4 game introduction  Ground round robin  Practice at home: tournament in the new year! Week 14 (12/17/11):

 Year-end school party Week 15 (1/8/12)  Connect 4 tournament Week 16 (1/15/12):  Connect 4 championship matches  Problems: Are you smarter than a 2nd grader?  Silver level test #1: in class and continue at home Week 17 (1/22/12):  Collect Silver level test #1  Review problems: are you smarter than a 2nd grader?  Go over Silver level test #1  Practice: Silver level test #2 Week 18 (1/29/12):  Collect Silver level test #2  School target round problems  Explain Silver level test #2 Week 19 (2/5/12):  Silver level tests #3-5 Week 20 (2/12/12):  Explain target round and Silver level test problems Week 21 (2/19/12):  School team competitions 2/25/12: Piedmont Chapter Competition at Clemson University! Week 22 (2/26/12):  Hand out World Math Day sign-in cards  Explain Chapter competition results  Fun competition: about π!  Go over team round problems Week 23 (3/4/12):  6th Grade Math Review Week 24 (3/11/12):  Grade 7 Math Review (Algebra 1): Session 1 – The Basics of Algebra  In-class quiz Week 25 (3/18/12):  Grade 7 Math Review (Algebra 1): Session 2 – Equations & Inequality  In-class quiz

Week 26 (3/25/12):  7th Grade Math Review (Algebra 1): Session 3 – Quadratic Equation, Right Triangle & Probability  In-class quiz Week 27 (4/15/12):  8th Grade Math Review (Geometry): session 1  In-class quiz Week 28 (4/22/12):  8th Grade Math Review (Geometry): session 2  In-class quiz Week 29 (4/29/12):  Silver level test #6  Grade test in class  Go over silver level test problems Week 30 (5/6/12):  SWAG tournament!  Round robin within each team: hand out round robin sheets (1 sheet per team)  Team round robin (Team #1s against each other)  Individual tournament: single eliminations!  Individual tournament: consolation rounds!  Hand out trophies/medals for SWAG tournament winners Week 31 (5/15/12):  Gold level test! Week 32 (5/20/12):  Poker tournament: the application of probability Week 28 (5/15/12):  Problem practices  Problem-solving demonstrations Week 29 (5/20/12):  Problem practices  Problem-solving demonstrations

2011 Chinese School Team at Chapter Competition

2012 Chinese School Team at Chapter Competition