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Journal of Math Circles

Biographical Sketch

Interviewer: Rodi Steinig is the Founding Director of the Math Renaissance Math Circle. She provides academic and study-skills coaching to students at a Philadelphia K-12 school, and she trains teachers, develops content, and instructs students for The Princeton Review. She has served as Director of Mentoring for the National Association of Math Circles. Rodi is co-author of the book Math Renaissance: Growing Math Circles, Changing Classrooms, and Creating Sustainable Math Education and a contributing author to Playing with Math: Stories from Math Circles, Homeschoolers, and Passionate Teachers. She holds a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a M.Ed. from Cabrini University. A Philadelphia resident, she holds a Pennsylvania State Teaching Certificate and was formerly a homeschool facilitator and a classroom teacher. One of Rodi’s greatest joys is talking to people about math education.

Interviewee: Tatiana Shubin has devoted many years of her life to fostering the development of Math Circles throughout the United States. She founded the Math Teachers' Circle movement, the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America on Math Circles (SIGMAA MCST [6]), Navajo Math Circles [7]. and the Alliance of Indigenous Math Circles [8]. She has also mentored many individual Math Circle and Math Teachers' Circle leaders around the country.

Abstract

Tatiana Shubin [1] was among those who pioneered Math Circles on the West Coast of the United States in the 1990s. She continues to innovate and pivot to make the Math Circle message and experience accessible to all. At the 2021 Circle on the Road conference, Tatiana Shubin presented the talk “Math Circles: A Quick Early History,” and the recording is archived on the Math Circle Network webpage [2]. In the spring of 2022, Rodi Steinig interviewed Tatiana to discuss this talk through two lenses. First, the lens of the role the Kaplans played in the broader history of Math Circles in the United States (see the article on this topic in the Notices of the AMS [3]). Second, the lens of the three aspects of the Journal of Math Circles: math, math community, and problem solving --- especially mathematical engagement and habits of mind. In this article, Tatiana talks about how Bob and Ellen brought people together in community to re-frame the thinking of everyone present.

Description of Program

Math Renaissance (mathrenaissance.com) offers Math Circles to K-12 students in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Contact us via the website or at rodi@mathrenaissance.com.

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