Journal of Math Circles
Journal of Math Circles is an Open Access Journal, indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Read the Most Recent JMC Articles
Aims and Scope
Journal of Math Circles (JMC) offers high-quality, practitioner-focused resources for outreach leaders through the dissemination of local knowledge to the broader mathematical community. Articles are authored by and for mathematics professionals, including K-12 teachers, who organize a wide range of community-responsive outreach programs across the globe.JMC seeks articles capturing best practices for outreach and professional development activities that align with Math Circle core values: exploring worthwhile mathematical tasks, fostering problem-solving habits of mind, and building communities of mathematical thinkers and problem solvers. Papers offering thorough, evidence-based reflective commentary of implementation are welcome. Manuscripts may be submitted in one of three areas:
- Lesson Plans. These papers are intended to support leaders of a session or progression of sessions.
- Outreach Programs. These papers are intended to support individuals or organizations in starting or sustaining outreach programs.
- Professional Development. These papers are intended to support leaders of K-12 teacher professional development.
JMC publishes articles on a rolling basis with special issues on themed topics. All papers are rigorously reviewed using a double-blind peer-review process.
Open Access Policy
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition.
The author retains copyright of their work with a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY), so all articles are made freely available to the widest audience possible.
Article Processing Charges
Journal of Math Circles is an Open Access Journal and never charges authors article processing fees for publication.
Copyright
Journal allows the author(s) to hold and retain the copyright and publishing rights without restrictions.
Image Information
Image Credit: Alexander Heaton,
The Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences
Current Issue: Volume 3, Issue 1 (2023) Journal Of Math Circles 2023-2024
Articles not for special issue
Parallel Circles: A Math Club as a University Math Circle
Sarah C. Cobb and Marcos Lopez
This paper will discuss a monthly social event for the University Math Club. Over the past several years, the event has been shaped by the philosophy of a Student Math Circle. We will discuss the event's organization and the ways it has benefited from the influence of the Math Circle community.
The Impact of After-School Math Club on Elementary Student Math Anxiety
Caroline Virden, Lee Dean, and Liza Bondurant
Many students experience math anxiety, which can harm mathematics achievement. Taking part in fun, hands-on, inquiry-based math activities has been shown to decrease student anxiety. For four semesters, we ran an after-school mathematics club at Presbyterian Day School in Cleveland, MS for students in grades 3-5. The activities and materials were supplied by Crazy 8s Math Club (a Bedtime Math company). In this manuscript, we share three specific activities that encouraged both student engagement and problem-solving skills. Then we discuss survey results from the Crazy 8s Math Club as they relate to lower student math anxiety.
From Mirrors to Wallpapers: A Virtual Math Circle Module on Symmetry
Nicole A. Sullivant, Christina L. Duron, and Douglas T. Pfeffer
Symmetry is a natural property that children see in their everyday lives; it also has deep mathematical connections to areas like tiling and objects like wallpaper groups. The Tucson Math Circle (TMC) presents a 7-part module on symmetry that starts with reflective symmetry and culminates in the deconstruction of wallpapers into their ‘generating tiles’. This module utilizes a scaffolded, hands-on approach to cover old and new mathematical topics with various interactive activities; all activities are made available through free web-based platforms. In this paper, we provide lesson plans for the various activities used, and discuss their online implementation with Zoom, Miro, and the TMC Widget. We touch on the benefits and disadvantages of the online environment, and provide suggestions for moving these activities to an in-person format. We also include links to files in our Google Drive, where members of the Math Circle community can download our worksheets and Miro board templates.
Editor-in-Chief
Brandy Wiegers, College of Idaho
Department of MAPS
Kittitas Valley Math Circle
Boise, Idaho, USA
email: bwiegers@collegeofidaho.edu
Associate Editors
David Auckly, Kansas State University
Department of Mathematics
Indigenous Math Circles Communities
Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Tien Chih, Oxford College, Emory University
Department of Mathematics
MSUB Math Circle
Oxford, Georgia
Tom Clark, SIGMAA-MCST representative. Dordt University
Department of Mathematics
Dordt Math Teachers' Circle
Sioux Center, Iowa
Emilie Hancock, Central Washington University
Department of Mathematics, Department of Science Education
Kittitas Valley Math Circle
Ellensburg, Washington, USA
email: emilie.hancock@cwu.edu
Gülden Karakök, University of Northern Colorado
Department of Mathematics
Northern Colorado Math Circles
Greeley, Colorado, USA
Katherine Morrison, University of Northern Colorado
Department of Mathematics
Northern Colorado Math Circles
Greeley, Colorado, USA
Mark Saul, Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival
San Jose, California, USA
David R Scott , University of Puget Sound
Department of Mathematics
South Sound Circles
Tacoma, Washington, USA
Amanda Serenevy, Riverbend Community Math Center
Alliance of Indigenous Math Circles
Riverbend Community Math Center
South Bend, Indiana, USA
James Tanton, Mathematical Association of America
Global Math Project
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Dan Zaharopol, Art of Problem Solving Initiative, Inc.
Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM)
New York City, New York, USA
Copy Editor
Brent Hancock, Central Washington University
Department of Mathematics
Kittitas Valley Math Circle
Ellensburg, Washington, USA