WACO, Texas — Students at Baylor University's Mathematics for Early Learners Academy will get a special surprise this July, a visit from some of the Baylor Bear athletes.
On Monday, July 24, athletes will join the program's young students in Baylor's softball practice facility, where they will help to organize some fun math games for the children.
The Mathematics for Early Learners Academy, or MELA, is sponsored by the Baylor School of Education and is designed to help young students who have just finished PreK or Kindergarten establish a "solid foundation" in number sense and mathematics.
The program is held at the Mayborn Museum on Baylor's campus for children between the ages of 4 and 6. It runs from July 5 to July 28.
“MELA is all about gaining number sense, which is composing and decomposing numbers — more than just counting,” said Sandi Cooper, Ph.D., professor of mathematics education at Baylor and director of the MELA program. “When you think about the number 5, you can see it as a sum of 3 and 2 or of 4 and 1, and there are sets of five and counting by fives. And 5 can be found in the real world; for example, a nickel represents the number 5. It’s about understanding what numbers mean, not just rote counting.”
Baylor's School of Education partnered with three local school districts for the program, Waco, La Vega and Midway ISDs, and is hosting more than 80 students from five different elementary schools.
The staff of the MELA program includes eight master teachers, eight Baylor students, seven paraprofessionals from the participating school districts, five graduate students and a research consultant who is also a recent Baylor doctoral graduate. Faculty includes Dr. Sandi Cooper and Dr. Tracey Jones.
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