EASTON, PA—The First In Math Online Program is growing by leaps and bounds, and that speaks volumes about the future of math education in America, according to the program’s creator, Robert Sun.
Last school year, students and educators earned about 960 million stickers on the FIM site. This season, during the peak times, FIM participants were earning an average of seven million stickers per day. According to Sun’s calculations, the program should top one billion (yes, that’s billion with a ‘b’) stickers earned sometime in early June of 2013.
Sun decided to celebrate this milestone by building a contest around it. “We thought it would be a great end-of-the-school-year activity to have Team Leaders ask their students to make calculations about exactly when the one billion “Big Bang” would happen—based on number of stickers earned per day and adjusting for trends,” explains Sun. “Each Team can submit their best-guess via a link available to Team Leaders on their FIM homepage.”
Every student on the winning Team receives a FIM drawstring backpack “goodie bag” containing an autographed 24 Game, along with a FIM lanyard and special letter of recognition signed by FIM creator Robert Sun. The Team Leader receives a Kindle Fire. The school receives all nine 24 Game editions, a 24 Game Tournament Kit and all three Math Club kits, and each item is autographed by Sun. The deadline for entries is midnight, May 31, 2013 (EST) – unless we cross one billion stickers before then.
Sun, who has been inventing ways to make math ‘fun’ for more than 20 years, says seven million stickers a day sounds impressive, but points out that it becomes even more impressive when you understand it means more than 20 million math problems have been correctly solved in schools across the country on each of those peak days.
“Schools that implement First In Math find it can produce the level of engagement necessary for math success, says Sun. “Activities on the FIM site are progressive, with each new level building upon skills gained in previous levels—just like video games. They also provide instant feedback, a sense of positive affirmation, and a familiarity that makes them a perfect supplement to classroom instruction.”
Sun believes that what needs to be embraced with equal enthusiasm are new teaching techniques. “For a generation of students weaned on Facebook, video games and 140-character Twitter messages, old methods are often insufficient. It’s imperative that we adapt our educational approach to take advantage of not only what kids relate to, but how their brains work,” offers Sun.
Sun believes that the cutting-edge First In Math program is an integral part of a new approach. “Schools must incorporate learning tools that are in step with today’s students to ensure that future educational goals are met.”