Nashua Students Excel In Math Competition

ThinkForFun, is an enrichment program in Nashua, NH, that focuses on Math and Programming. Math is catered to students K through high school; and Programming is for students 7th grade and onwards. We focus in problem solving and critical thinking. We teach our students all the concepts required for them to be able to solve competition level math problems. www.thinkforfun.com

Nithya Arun, 7th grader in Fairgrounds Middle School, Nitya Babbar, Prachi Kharade, Abigail Thomas and Anjali Tummala all 7th graders in Academy of Science and Design (ASD) placed in the top 10 in the MATHCOUNTS chapter competition where more than 110 students participated.

These 5 girls, have been attending TFF for many years, some of them since they were in 2nd grade. All 5 of them are very good friends, a friendship they developed while at TFF. Abigail Thomas came 1st in the Countdown round, and Nithya Arun placed 4th overall and 4th in the Countdown. It is very interesting to note, that some of the 5 girls would like to become Medical Doctors in the future; they are not thinking of engineering even though Math has become so easy to them. They are having a lot of fun learning and working on challenging problems. Congratulations to the 5 girls and good luck to them for the MATHCOUNTS States Competition on March 4th.

MATHCOUNTS is catered to students from 6th to 8th grade, and many of the problems the students are expected to solve are well beyond school level mathematics, concept and complexity wise.

We have great schools in Nashua, but there is very little focus in problem solving and critical thinking. Teaching students how to approach a problem and how to solve it logically using appropriate steps is not an easy task. With the diversity of students in every class, it is very difficult for a teacher to challenge students that are already doing well in math as they have to focus on the struggling kids, which might be the majority in some classes.

There is a lot more to mathematics than operations; most teachers and parents are happy as far as the students learn the times table well, and are able to add and subtract accurately. Most kids tend not to like math because they have never been shown how math can help them solve problems; all they see is the tedious mechanical drills that schools and parents ask them to do. Though these drills are very important, there is a lot more to mathematics than just boring mechanical work. Math is actually a very fun subject, as far as it developes kids curiosity and critical thinking skills.

One of the biggest problems with math education in the US, is that students are taught a topic and immediately they are evaluated in that topic and the class moves on to the next topic. Every test only tests the last thing they learned, there is no accumulative learning; so the students only have to retain what they learned in the last 3 or 4 weeks; this is more obvious in middle and high school, where one topic might not relate to another. Students do not have enough depth in their homework to practice the skills they learn. So students cannot be blamed for not assimilating the subject or for not building a strong foundation; the educational system is not geared towards that.

TFF was created by 2 engineers whose kids attend the Nashua public schools. TFF founders realized that Math education could be enriched further to develop passion in children. ThinkForFun is located in Nashua,NH off RT-3 Exit 4. www.thinkforfun.com

ThinkForFun's main focus is to make math fun and enjoying; develop kids curiosity and liking for problem solving, provide regular homework, multiple accumulative tests throughout the school year, and most importantly provide an environment where like minded kids get together to motivate each other.