Number Theory

$300.00
Times

*This course is intended for lower elementary students

 
$300.00

Class Schedule

Sundays 10:30-11:20 am PST

January 12, January 19, January 26, February 2, February 9

 

Note: Classes are listed in PST, click below to convert time to your time zone.

Course Overview

Small Group Advanced Math

This 5-week course will be a maximum of 6 students in this amazing opportunity to work with Master Teacher, Dr. Peter Koehler.

Every kindergartener knows that numbers are made from odd and even numbers. The Pythagoreans elevated this to a foundational principle and with that created number theory: the math which investigates the properties of numbers and how they are related. 

We look at Maria Montessori's iconic pink tower as inspiration and we will build the tower half its size with the interlocking blocks  which will lead us to make  mind boggling  discoveries. Montessori's pink tower, half its size, magically transformed in the hands of students and being equal in the number of blocks to the area of a 5x5  multiplication square. Why and how can that be?

We will take away a most important lesson in math: Math does not know any grades or ages. It is a beautiful tapestry mysteriously woven from strands, some most  simple and some most advanced. 

Materials Required: 

Student Experience

Pattern Seeker

Mathematician

Researcher

Inventor

Your Teacher: Dr. Peter Koehler

Peter Koehler holds a PhD in theoretical and elementary particle physics from Royal Holloway College, University of London; a master’s degree from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London; and carried out post-doc studies in the theory group at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center before becoming a math enrichment teacher at Nueva, where he has been teaching for over 20 years. At Nueva, Peter has become particularly interested in encouraging and fostering mathematical creativity in his students and was awarded a fellowship from Johns Hopkins University for excellence in teaching in 2012. He enjoys showing his students the surprising ways in which math can be used to describe aspects of the natural world. Inspired by the work of the Pythagoreans, he has developed an approach to elementary math teaching where the students use colored interlinking blocks and follow a few simple rules to visualize numbers; look for patterns, shapes, and sequences; make their own mathematical creations; and develop a sense of the more general principles of mathematics. He has found that this approach stimulates interest and enthusiasm for math, is a great motivator, and can spark mathematical creativity, originality, and a joy in the subject, and can lead to more intriguing and advanced aspects of math.

Peter has been a regular presenter at the Nueva ILC conferences and will be presenting a paper at the 11th International Conference on Mathematical Creativity and Giftedness in Hamburg, Germany, in 2019. He has taught independent enrichment programs at several Bay Area schools and the University of Santa Cruz extension. A painter in his spare time, Peter has run visual arts summer camps throughout the Bay Area for the past 25 years. He has also written plays for children.