puzzles ‘n proofs

Author: sam hilkey

Sam Hilkey taught middle and high school math in Los Angeles and Berkeley for 6 years. Now he's a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley where he focuses on designing professional developments for STEM teachers and researching precise, logical communication in math spaces. As much as he loves his research, his favorite time of year is summer, when he gets to teach BEAM Discovery in Los Angeles.

This course is good for someone who…

  • Wants to facilitate students’ work on challenging, open-ended problems that typically do not have an immediate answer.

  • Teaches middle-school or high-school students in any setting.  Several problems are challenging enough for older students and can be used as stand-alone activities.

  • Is interested in teaching with group work structures from Building Thinking Classrooms, by Peter Liljedahl. Course plans provide clear descriptions on implementing practices such as visibly random groups, vertical non-permanent surfaces, and verbally introduced problems.

This course features…

  • An experience mirroring what mathematicians do.  Students tackle challenging non-procedural problems, build logic and problem-solving skills, and gain exposure to formal proofs.

  • Constant student engagement in small-group work on fun and challenging problems, such as the “100 Coins Problem” and the “Broken Eggs Problem.”