Misericordia University teacher education and Math Club students offered lessons on measuring with meters, and weighing things by cubic centimeters during a fun and entertaining Metric Math Day at St. Jude School in Mountain Top. More than 20 Misericordia students provided fun and engaging ways for 200 students in pre-k through eighth grades to learn about and appreciate mathematics. Steven Tedford, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics at Misericordia University, and his wife, Veronica, a former assistant professor of mathematics at L.C.C.C, coordinated the program.

For the second straight year, the Diocesan of Scranton school and Misericordia University collaborated to celebrate mathematics in honor of Pi Day (3.14). Pi (Greek letter "p") represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter -- which is approximately 3.14159. Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. Because Pi Day fell on a Saturday this year, the school event was held on Friday, March 13.

The theme for the 2015 event was "Metric Olympics." St. Jude's classes competed in events that involved learning about the metric system, including weight, length and volume. The Misericordia students offered a variety of activities geared to the ages of the St. Jude students. Winning classes were awarded trophies in the fun and friendly competition.

"For a second year in a row, Math Day provided an opportunity for college students and elementary students to learn from each other," said Dr. Tedford. "The elementary students enjoyed learning about mathematics in a new and exciting way, while the college students learned how to take complicated concepts and relate them at a level appropriate for young children. Overall, I would say that the day was a rousing success."

The Metric Math Day is a service project for the Math Club and the service-learning component of the Math Methods II course that teacher education majors are taking at Misericordia University. It is also an opportunity for the future teachers to gain hands-on experience working with children in a real-world learning environment and engaging them in activities that make math fun.

"I learned a lot during my experience at St. Jude School," said Sarah Powers, an elementary education major from Clinton. "When teaching you always need a plan B and every activity will not always go as planned - it may just depend on the type of day and type of class you have. This was certainly true for me. Some of the activities worked well with certain classes and did not work for other classes. The lesson I learned here is that as a teacher, you need to be very flexible."

Powers said she also enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with students at different ages. "I was able to work with students in different grades and I got to see how some grades can be more challenging than others. But with that said, this gave me experience and insight on what to do when that occurs. Overall, it was a great experience," she added.

For more information about Misericordia University, call 570-674-6400 or log on to www.misericordia.edu.

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