University transfer students learning to become teachers took on that role as theyhosted a math fair in late Oct. at Lloydminster’s St. Mary’s Elementary School.

The math fair is a required project for students in the Math 160 course. Students areevaluated on their presentation planning and delivery, interactions with elementarystudents, and level of professionalism.

Using games, puzzles and interactive activities, Lakeland students present and reinforce math concepts such as sequencing, whole number addition and subtraction, logic problems, geometric shape identification and manipulation in a carnival-likeatmosphere.

For energetic grade three students, the lively atmosphere makes learning math fun.“The math fair was fun and I learned a lot of cool things,” said elementary student Gabriella Janes. Baylee Johnstone, also at St. Mary’s, added “I think the college students were really smart and they liked to teach me. I liked all the stickers and pencils they gave us.”


Photos are also on
Instructor Mark Cryderman says the math fair benefits students at both ends of the academic grid.“For first-year university level students, the math fair serves as a real-time, hands-on learning experience that helps them to develop their teaching technique,” says Cryderman. “For elementary students, the math fair often leads to the exploration of higher grade level concepts.

”Over the last few years, Lakeland College has worked with a number of schools inLloydminster to host the math fair project on an annual basis. It’s a partnership that has proven to be valuable.

“We always receive such great feedback and tips from teachers at the school. Sometimes, the classroom teachers will incorporate some of our activities into their lessons as well,” says Cryderman.

“It’s a great relationship and a great opportunity forour students.”

Cryderman says that for future projects, he would like to explore ways to incorporatemore technology, especially with technology such as SmartBoards and portable Maclabs becoming more commonplace in elementary and secondary school settings. “I think integrating technology into our classes would be a good idea,” says Cryderman. “Young students certainly are very tech-savy and each year, as a new group of students come to Lakeland straight from high school, it becomes more evident.”