Education students lead Math Day event for area elementary students

Through the funding of a university grant, 25 Liberty University School of Education teacher candidates and three faculty members partnered with Faith Christian School in Hurt, Va., to host a Math Day event on March 26.

This event, facilitated by students in one of Liberty’s EDUC 225 Elementary Education Design courses, helped the elementary students expand their math skills through hands-on learning. LU students divided into eight stations to teach various subjects related to geometry and for specific grade levels.

Teacher candidates spent the weeks leading up to Math Day researching current national curriculum standards and Virginia’s Standards of Learning to develop the proper teaching approaches to best reach their respective students. With assistance from the Jerry Falwell Curriculum Library, they prepared personalized lesson plans adaptable to various educational and cognitive levels.

Elementary education freshman Emmie Segerstrom worked with her team to teach tangrams (puzzles with polygons used to form different shapes and teach geometric concepts such as congruence, similarity, symmetry). While she led discussions with second and third grade students, she also remained on hand to support her classmates during their lessons.

“Overall, it was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life,” she said. “Going into school, I didn’t enter with a second plan; I wanted to be a teacher no matter what. Being in the school all day really solidified God’s plans for me, and this is where I wanted to be.”

The students were asked to incorporate biblical themes into each lesson. For Segerstrom and her team, this meant starting the lesson by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:11 — “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” — and urging FCA students to encourage one another as math comes easier to some people than others.

Special education sophomore Ashlyn Martin worked with fourth and fifth graders to build structures out of twist ties and straws, using Euler’s formula to teach the students about the faces, vertices, and edges on 3D shapes. She said the activity improved her ability to tailor lesson plans to specific student situations, a crucial tool for anyone in special education.

“This opportunity prepared me big time to see how to differentiate,” she said, noting she is considering a career in disability ministry. “That’s a word you hear a lot in special education and regular education class with how you differentiate with students who are visual learners and kinesthetic. We have to incorporate all of that into our lesson plans. Our lesson plan was very thorough, and our teacher provided us a really nice template.”

Martin said the FCA students were receptive to the lessons, demonstrating a strong proficiency of the topic and helping each other understand it better.

Through opportunities like Math Day, the university aims to shine as a light in the education community and provide Liberty students the chance to practice their classroom learning in real-life situations.

“Faith Christian Academy values its longstanding partnership with Liberty University,” said Dr. Rachel Hannon, head of FCA. “Having LU students on FCA’s campus for events like the recent Math Day not only allows the LU students to gain teaching experience but also enhances the learning experience for FCA students. The elementary students were able to get hands-on experiences with math topics, develop their geometry knowledge and vocabulary, and make friends with the LU students. With the help of the LU students, FCA students learned that math can be a little less scary and lot more fun than they previously thought.”

Math Day was funded by an ILLUMINATE Grant, “Christian School Enrichment Initiative,” awarded to Dr. Esther Alcindor, School for Education residential chair of elementary and middle education programs; Assistant Professor Dr. Michele Worley; and Professor Dr. Harvey Klamm. The grant covered the cost of two math kits. The School of Education hopes to extend Math Day to multiple schools in future years.

Worley said Math Day stemmed from the university’s passion to provide support for Christian private schools. Although Liberty has worked with several Christian schools in the past, this event differed from previous opportunities in that it facilitated an entire day of learning.

“Thanks to the ILLUMINATE Grant, we were able to use our knowledge and our teacher-candidates’ knowledge in conjunction with a resource to reach the community,” Worley said. “Through the grant, Liberty offered a practical and meaningful resource that is mutually beneficial for both our teacher-candidates and community Christian school partners Partnerships are a large part of the School of Education. Building those partnerships is vital to us.”

The ILLUMINATE Grants for the Improvement of Teaching are designed to encourage faculty to enhance instruction through the introduction of new pedagogical and active learning techniques, activities, and/or learner-centered experiences. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis. Confidential scoring committees evaluate applicants on the grant’s purpose, student engagement, higher-order thinking, and potential to impact student learning.