2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In response to calls for an ever-growing, well-rounded STEM workforce, universities must seek new ways to provide hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to properly equip their students with the knowledge and skills necessary for their futures. Community engagement has been utilized as one means to achieve this goal, pushing students to step beyond the bounds of their campus as they co-construct mutually beneficial, collaborative relationships with community members to address real-world problems.

This work centers math circles as a means of integrating community engagement within the undergraduate curriculum at [Institution]. Math circles are informal learning environments in which groups of children are presented with novel, engaging math problems unlike those which they may see in their regular classrooms (Wiegers & White 2016). Though traditionally led by math experts, our math circles place a pair of upper-level undergraduates at a community partner site (public elementary school, public library, or Boys and Girls Club) for one semester. This program is formalized through concurrent enrollment in a three-credit community engagement course offered through [Math Department]. As part of the course, math circle leaders (MCLs) also meet weekly to learn the fundamentals of conducting math circles and best practices to facilitate learning for elementary-aged children.

Prior studies have detailed the positive effects of math circles, including those which look at children belonging to groups historically excluded from STEM (Auckly et al, 2016; Kennedy & Smolinsky, 2016). One tenet of community engagement, however, is the notion of reciprocity; that is, positive outcomes for all parties involved. In this exploratory study, we shift our focus to examine the impact(s) of this program on the MCLs themselves. Specifically, we employed a qualitative approach to answer the following research questions:

How do MCLs view the role of math in society?
What skills do MCLs view as transferable to their future goals?
How do MCLs engage math circle participants?

Data collection included multiple observations of the math circles, end-of-semester interviews, and student work, such as weekly reflection assignments, in order to gather a holistic insight into the MCLs’ experiences. Our results from two cohorts (N=19) suggest that the MCLs’ participation has been a positive and enriching experience. Nearly all of our participants described math as ubiquitous in society and emphasized the need for widespread math literacy; for some, this idea was mirrored in their interactions with children. Further, the MCLs reported that the experience enabled them to refine the skills they considered essential to their future careers—namely, interpersonal skills such as public speaking and tailoring language to the individual. Finally, observations revealed that MCLs use a wide variety of questions and feedback strategies depending on the context. However, interviews also suggest that there is a personal component to their instructional choices, which often relate to their own experiences as students.

The remainder of this paper will examine these results more closely and provide an overview of the program and the critical components for its implementation. This research is conducted jointly with [Co-Authors] and supported by NSF-IUSE Grant No. [#].

References:

Auckly, D., Klein, B., Serenevy, A., & Shubin, T. (2016). Baa Hózhó Math: Math Circles for Navajo Students and Teachers. Notices of the AMS, Volume 63, Number 7.

Kennedy, E., and Smolinsky, L. (2016) “Math circles: A tool for promoting engagement among middle school minority males.” EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 12.4 (2016): 717–732.

Wiegers, B., & White, D. (2016). "The establishment and growth of Math Circles in America." Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics. Birkhäuser, Cham, pg., 237–248.