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WHAT IS MATHPATH?
MathPath is a four-week residential summer camp for students showing high promise and interest in mathematics to extend their knowledge and skills in mathematics and to immerse them in the mathematical culture. All students should be in the age range of 11 to 14 years. This is why MathPath has the slogan "Bright and Early."
Most students applying to MathPath are either attending grade 6–8 at the time of application, or are homeschooled. We rarely take students attending grade 5 at the time of their camp application. Some students are in grade 9 or even higher, especially for their math courses. So long as students satisfy our age requirement they can be attending a grade higher than grade 8.
MathPath is a suitable "first camp" for the highly gifted students of middle school age – 11 to 14 years.
How come it is suitable? See Why MathPath.
The reason we say "first camp" is that we have observed the age of eleven years as suitable for the highly gifted in general to attend a residential camp far from home and where the algebra and geometry skills they possess are sufficient.
How each student gets a program that suits their level of knowledge, skill, and gift
Students find the right level through their freedom to choose breakouts.
Breakouts are small classes on a single topic lasting one week.
There are three types of breakouts: foundations, special topics, and competitions.
Except for special sessions like the hour of visiting speaker lecture, or the 50 minutes of math history, or the 30 minutes of Qualifying Test discussion, the daily class schedule has several of these breakouts running in parallel.
Students sign up for one breakout in each breakout time slot. For instance, in the mid-morning period, you would sign up for, say, hyperbolic geometry. If you find that this breakout is too easy, you may move to another breakout in the same period that is recommended as tougher.
This freedom to move up or down not only provides a tailor-made program for each student but also makes the program neither too easy for the grade 8 student nor too tough for the grade 6 student.
Two types of students
MathPath is the first camp for students who love math. And those who love math fall under two types – those who love fast-paced problem-solving as in the national mathematics contests and those who do not. MathPath caters to both types. This also means MathPath is not a program for problem-solving exclusively. While there is ample instruction by some of the most experienced problem-solving experts, the program is balanced with foundation-building breakouts as well as sessions on problem-solving heuristics and hands-on problem-solving that both types of students will find it suitable for them.
For more information, please see the MathPath 2008 closing ceremony speech by the Academic Director.
An enrichment program, not an acceleration program
MathPath does not teach courses offered in schools or universities. The emphasis is on fundamentals, not formulas or problem solving just for competitions. Fundamentals are defined as seminal concepts and methods. Methods include how to discover, how to prove, how to solve, and how to communicate. Of course, methods cannot be taught in the absence of subject matter (e.g., geometry, number theory, algebra), but the subject matter should be secondary to the methods. Hyperbolic Geometry, Spherical Geometry, Analytical Geometry, writing in mathematics, proof in mathematics, and history of mathematics form the core of the program, and these are taught by university professors. These sessions are interspersed with a daily lecture by a distinguished visiting speaker and by problem solving instruction at different levels for various competitions, including Mathcounts for younger students and AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) and USAMO (USA Mathematics Olympiad) for older students.
The camp is conducted at a university campus and moves annually in an orbit of campuses. The intensity of mathematics is balanced by the fun of student participation in evening field games and weekend trips to natural and local attractions.
MathPath – "BRIGHT AND EARLY"
Send suggestions to webmaster@mathpath.org
Copyright © 2001– MathPath
Last updated June 2, 2010
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