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Mandee Adler, IMACS Parent and College Counseling Expert

IMACS parent and world-renowned college counseling expert, certified educational planner, and author of several books on such topics, Mandee Heller Adler, took the time to visit our corporate office and to write the following testimonial to express her gratitude for the role IMACS played in her daughter’s life. As my oldest daughter, Rebecca, heads to … Continue Reading

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Alternatives to Math Competitions for the Dreamer 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

Thinking with Logical Creativity

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

Gifted Students Need Strong Study Habits Too

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

IMACS alumnus Mark Engelberg with coding games he designed for ThinkFun

Coding Game Designer on Homeschooling Gifted Kids

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

Smart is Not What You Think. It’s How You Think.

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

Teach Kids How to Think and They’ll Think for Themselves

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

Shiva Oswal and family photo

11-Year-Old Davidson Young Scholar Scores Perfect 800 on SAT Math Test

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

Thomas Rutkowski: Cell Biologist

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

4 Tips for Nurturing Mathematically-Talented Preschoolers

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