Take a fun placement class, meet with our staff and identify the proper course level of your child.
The benefits of math competitions are well known: focusing on goals, dealing with pressure, learning teamwork, and building friendships are among those typically mentioned. Math competitions also allow for the much needed celebration of intellectual achievement the way athletic achievement has always been celebrated. At IMACS, many of our math enrichment students enjoy competing in … Continue Reading
Can you link all nine dots using four or fewer straight lines, without lifting your finger and without tracing the same line more than once? We all understand what is meant when a person exclaims, “That’s so creative!” This is a typical reaction to a new and often pleasing, useful or clever idea. It might … Continue Reading
Developing good study habits before entering college is an essential skill that many gifted and talented children and their parents overlook. Some parents are often surprised to learn that their bright child can ace a schedule of honors or Advanced Placement courses with little studying. They might assume that if their child is receiving top … Continue Reading
Why did the math riddle cross the road? Like Mac and Cheese or an ice cream cone on a hot summer’s day, silly riddles are an essential comfort of a joyful childhood. No matter how corny a riddle is, it is pure magic to hear a child shriek with laughter at the goofy wordplay and … Continue Reading
Keep math exciting, and your kids will keep doing math. Hello, logic puzzles! Logic puzzles for kids are a great way to pique your child’s interest in mathematics since logic and math go hand-in-hand. Any time kids are engrossed in tricky brain teasers, they’re building the skills they’ll eventually use to ace the SAT, lead … Continue Reading
The IMACS Blog reconnects with alumnus Mark Engelberg who has released three coding games through ThinkFun. Mark’s passion for computer science, math and logic led him to an award-winning career in puzzle and game design. He is also an active speaker in the Clojure programming language community. In this post, Mark talks with IMACS about … Continue Reading
There was a time when the ability to faithfully recall information was a strong determinant of success. Now we have highly-sophisticated search engines and revolutionary chatbots that speak answers to your spoken questions. What you know and think is no longer the definitive measure of being smart. What matters now and in the future is … Continue Reading
As parents we instinctively want to help our children when they struggle. Our impulse is often to just fix the problem ourselves. While this approach makes sense when children are very young, as they grow it becomes counterproductive. In rescuing our kids, we provide a quick fix but deny them opportunities to practice important skills … Continue Reading
When fewer than 1% of 2014 college-bound high school seniors attain a perfect 800 on the math section of the SAT, you know that you’ve met someone special when he’s achieved that amazing feat before even cracking the teen years. That someone is Shiva Oswal, a precocious 11-year-old from Northern California who recently earned that … Continue Reading
IMACS chats with Thomas Rutkowski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Prof. Rutkowski received his Ph.D. in cell biology from UC San Francisco and his B.S. in biotechnology with a minor in chemistry from the University of Delaware. He completed his post-doctoral … Continue Reading
First, this is not a blog about how to tell if you have a mathematically talented child. There are many great resources out there by people more educated on and experienced in that topic. (I’ve found the Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page, and the book “Developing Math Talent” by Assouline and Lupkowski-Shoplik very helpful.) If you … Continue Reading