MathApps Saturday Academy at Hofstra University

In October 2013 Hofstra University announced a $30,000 grant award from Motorola’s Innovation Generation Program to create a MathApps Saturday Academy for students in grades 6-9.

Fifty middle school students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds on Long Island will be invited to participate in the MathApps Saturday Academy. The program, which begins in Spring 2014, will allow them to work on their math skills and to explore STEM education and career pathways through enrichment experiences with experts and industry professionals. The framework and curricula of the Academy can be used as a model for other institutions.

Since 2007 the Innovation Generation program has awarded $3.4 million in grants to support science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs in more than 400 schools, museums and nonprofit programs across the United States and Canada. The program recognizes institutions, such as Hofstra University, that foster and support STEM initiatives for teachers and U.S. preschool through university students – especially girls and underrepresented minorities.

Beyond funding the MathApps program at Hofstra, Motorola Solutions will also provide employee volunteers, who will mentor, tutor and share their STEM expertise with the participating middle school students.

For additional information on the Motorola Solutions Foundation grants programs, click here.

Why Kids Make Apps

• The MathApps Mission

  The MathApps Mission

  The purpose of the MathApps Saturday Academy is to develop the math skills of minority youth by supporting them in the creation of mobile applications that are culturally and socially relevant. This project is a collaborative effort between Hofstra University and middle schools in racially diverse, multi-ethnic communities on Long Island. The project will engage 50 students in a program designed to strengthen their mathematical insights and abilities. They will investigate topics of interest to their communities, perform extended STEM-related, hands-on projects, and use computers and other technological instruments to foster a deeper interest in mathematics. The overall aim is to provide students with the knowledge and motivation they will need to participate productively in 21st century mathematics, science, and technology, and to learn about STEM majors and future career paths.

  To achieve its overall aim, the MathApp project will:

  1. Create a Saturday Academy to upgrade the mathematics education of 6th-9th grade students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds on Long Island.
  2. Teach students to design culturally-relevant Apps that will improve their motivation and ability, logical thinking, and knowledge of technology.
  3. Facilitate 50 middle school students exploration of STEM education and career pathways through enrichment experiences with experts and industry professionals.

  The project will pilot a framework for Saturday programming and curricula that can be adopted by other institutions to strengthen students math skills.

  
• Meet the Directors

  Meet the Directors

  Dr. Roberto Joseph

  Dr. Joseph is a former New York City high school mathematics teacher and computer coordinator. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College, and a Master of Science Degree in Instructional Technology from New York Institute of Technology. Dr. Joseph holds a Ph. D in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Teaching, Literacy, and Leadership Department of the School of Education, at Hofstra University.

  Dr. Joseph is the director of the Master of Arts Degree and Advanced Certificate programs in Educational Technology. He also directs the New York State Teacher Opportunity Corps (TOC) program here at Hofstra. TOC is a scholarship and programmatic grant that strives to recruit students of color into the field of teaching. Dr. Joseph has recently received a major grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct research in the area of game-based learning.

  Dr. Joseph's primary research and publications is in the area of Culture in Educational Technologies and Systemic Change in Education. As a Gates Millennium Scholar, Dr. Roberto Joseph is committed to assisting schools in creating meaningful learning environments to answer the future needs of students and society.

  

  Dr. Blidi Stemn

  Dr. Blidi S. Stemn is an Associate Professor of mathematics education in the Teaching, Literacy, and Leadership Department, School of Education, at Hofstra University. He teaches graduate and undergraduate mathematics and mathematics education courses in the teacher certification program. He is also the Principal Investigator and Director of the Robert Noyce Scholarship and Fellowship program for mathematics and science teaching, a National Science Foundation funded program at Hofstra University. Dr. Stemn is the math specialist for the Teacher/Leadership Quality Program at Hofstra funded by the No Child Left Behind Act to improve student achievement in mathematics and science by improving teacher quality.

  His research interests are in the mathematical content knowledge of urban teachers and centers around mathematics content knowledge for teaching, the mathematics achievement of urban students and problem solving. He is vice president for membership of the North American Study Group on Ethnomathematics (NASGEm), a regional chapter of the International Study Group on Ethnomathematics (ISGEm).

  

  Hofstra Student Instructors with Dr. Joseph

  

  Paras Patel is a graduate student studying to become a computer scientist. Ethan Batterman is an undergraduate mathematics education student studying to become a high school mathematics teacher, and Franshuas Rodriguez is a graduate student and Spanish Teacher who will be the first graduate of our Master of Arts in Technology for Learning program.

• MathApps Student Finalists

  We would like to congratulate all of the students that have been selected to participate in the MathApps Saturday Academy at Hofstra University. The application pool was very strong, and there were no easy decisions.

  Name	School	District
  Gregory Adams	St. Anthony's High School	Central Islip
  Bhargava Arunachalam	Wisdon Lane Middle School	Levittown
  Nicolette Auld-Griffith	South High School	Valley Stream
  Saeeda Bano	Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Rishab Biswas	Plainview Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Victoria Bradley	Wheeler Avenue	Valley Stream
  Casey Butcher	General Douglas MacArthur High School	Levittown
  Wayne Chen Delgado	Valley Stream South High School	Valley Stream
  Jada Clarke	Ulysses Byas	Roosevelt
  Ryan Cohn	Mattlin Middle School	Plainview
  Philip Danziger	Plainview Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School	Plainview
  Eleni Demas	Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Khushi Desai	Wisdom Lane Middle School	Levittown
  Bernardo Dezil	Roosevelt High School	Freeport
  Daniel Dimijian	Hampton Bays Middle School	Southampton
  Caroline Doglio	Wisdom Lane Middle School	Levittown
  Vidushi Dugar	Plainview Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Marielle Garvey	Plainview Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Megha Gopal	Manor Oaks	New Hyde Park
  Rana Igra	Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Micheal Jan	Great Neck North Middle School	Great Neck
  William Jeon	Mattlin Middle School	Plainview
  Jewel Joseph	Herricks Middle School	Williston Park
  Fatima Khalfan	Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Jane Kim	Wheatley School	Mineola
  Erin Laxton	Valley Stream South High School	Valley Stream
  Bradford Lin	Great Neck North Middle School	Kings Point
  Maxwell Loncke	P.S. 195	Brooklyn
  Natalia Lundy	Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School	Baldwin
  Ryan L. Norris	Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Tasnova Osmani	Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Lauren Park	Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Ravi Prasad	Locust Valley Middle School	Oyster bay
  Shanna Ramirez	Centennial	Roosevelt
  John Rivera	Robert Moses Middle School	North Babylon
  Bryan Rojas-Torres	Uniondale High School	Uniondale
  Katie Sandoval	Ulysses Byas	Roosevelt
  Alondra Schuck	R.M. Finley Middle School	Glen Cove
  Manav Sehgal	Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Hardik Shahu	Hauppauge Middle School	Hauppauge
  Amy Shteyman	Great Neck North Middle School	Great Neck
  Amrit Singh	Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Alex Stepansky	Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School	Plainview
  Deja Tejada	Walt Whitman High School	Huntington Station
  Jake Turcios	Udall Road Middle School	West Islip
  Jonathan Val	Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School	Valley Stream
  Anna Westfall	James A. Dever	Valley Stream
  Isaiah Willock	Ulysses Byas	Roosevelt
  Daniel Zetino	Roosevelt Middle School	Roosevelt
  Jessica Zhu	Hauppauge Middle School	Smithtown
  Alex Zhuo	James A Dever School	Valley Stream
  Sam Zorpette	North Shore Middle School	Sea Cliff

• Location and Dates

  MathApps Saturday Academy Location and Dates

  The MathApps Saturday Academy will be held at Hofstra University in Hagedorn Hall. Hagedorn Hall is located at the Southwest Corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Uniondale Avenue.

  Please consult the following links for directions to Hofstra University and a map of the campus:

  • Driving Directions To Hofstra University
  • Public Transportation To Hofstra University
  • Hofstra University Interactive Map

  The MathApps Saturday Academy will be help from 9am to 12pm most Saturdays from February 1st up to and including June 7th.

  Please see the calendar below for a complete listing of the scheduled sessions.

  We will be meeting in Hagedorn Hall on the following dates: [google maps]

  Please meet in the Lobby. For your reference, we will be using rooms 284/285 with the exception of April 12 when we will be in rooms 29 and 54.

  Feb 1

  March, 1, 8, 15

  April 12, 26

  May 10, 17, 24, 31

  We will be meeting in C.V. Starr on the following dates:  [google maps]

  Please meet in the Lobby. For your reference, we will be using rooms 208 and 308.

  Feb 8, 15

  March 22, 29

  April 5

  May 3
• MathApps Saturday Academy - Closing Ceremony

  MathApps Saturday Academy - Closing Ceremony

  We would like to announce the Closing Ceremony for the MathApps Saturday Academy.

  The ceremony will be held on May 31st 2013 at Hofstra University in the Student Center Theatre Rm 112.

  Students should arrive by 8:30am to allow for ample time to setup their tables.

  For directions please see the following links:

  Student Center (google maps)

  General Directions Page (look for Student Center Theatre)

  We hope to see you there.

• MathApps Student Work

  Below are some of the games and documents that our students worked on throughout the MathApps Saturday Academy at Hofstra University.

  The Maze Game by John Rivera, Rishab Biswas, Bhargava Arunachalam, and Maxwell Loncke:

  Flight 777 by Erin Laxton, Wayne Chen, Nicolette Auld-Griffith:

  Technological Takeover by Rana Igra, Amrit Singh, Manav Sehgal, Jonathan Val:

  Going Bannas! by Megha Gopal:

  Eco: 10 Seconds by Caroline Doglio:

  Scholisode by "Super0nova":

  Dodge the Missile! by "LJYX1000":

  Swimmer by Eleni Demas:

  Swords Game by "Doctorln":