HOWARD — Every Tuesday after school, a group of East Knox Middle School students meet to hone their math skills.
Math Club advisor Colleen Wancheck said club members practice the concepts they are studying in class, and also have the opportunity to get help with their math homework.
Recently, club members were busy with a cooking activity. Students Halle Berry, Brandon Beach and David Judson said cooking is a good way to learn more about math.
“Our one recipe makes enough for 16 people,” David said, “but there are only eight of us. So, we had to divide the measurements in half. We also had to figure out how much of everything we’d need if we were having a party and expecting 64 guests.”
The students also learn about equivalent measures and carefully following recipe directions.
“And,” Brandon said, “we get to eat what we make.”
The trio of students said they like math club because “it’s a fun way to do math.” During noncooking math club meetings, they play board games such as Quarto and Blokus, work on word problems, and even go outside for mathematic relay races. Those, the students explained, are like regular relay races, but the contestants have to correctly answer a math fact question before they can run their lap.
“Math Club is just another way to do math,” Wancheck said. “The students like it, and, although I’m not sure there is a direct correlation, our math test scores last year were higher than the year before.”
