Math jam simplifies upcoming coursework

By Salvador Godoy, Staff Writer

Students who want to expand their mathematics expertise can gain momentum to attend the summer and fall Math Jam sessions coordinated by HSI/STEM grant.

The program offers a supportive and stress-free environment that better enables students to overcome their fears and anxieties about taking math courses.

Ysrael Condori, HSI/STEM staff member, said, “This is a great opportunity, not only who are performing well in math, but to those students who are struggling. The Math Jam program will transform students’ learning outcomes.”

In order to be qualified to attend the Math Jam program, students must be registered in one of the compatible classes that are covered in the Math Jam regular session. These are Math 118, Math 120, Math 164, Math 171 or Math 190. For the night session, supported classes are Math 164 and Math 190.

“Whether you’re in computer science or any other major, this will be a useful program, I guarantee. This is long-term learning,” Condori said.

The summer program goes from June 13-17. The regular session is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For the fall session Math Jam goes from Aug. 1-3. The night session is scheduled from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. and is only offered in the fall semester.

The components to be covered in Math Jam will be an overview of basic concepts for the upcoming fall semester math courses, learning how to relate math to everyday life, college skill building and deconstructing myths of math.

“The role of the Math Jam program is to try to gather the most important elements, teach useful strategic concepts that will be covered in the future (compatible) math courses,” Condori said.

For the summer program, the confirmed faculty members who will be participating are mathematics professors Christopher Nagal and Trung Nguyen. The definitive professors who are attending the fall program are Lisa Jones, Trung Nguyen and Carol Stanton.

Kelly Ramos, HSI/STEM program coordinator, said, “It’s a great program for students to attend and not only is it giving them an overview of what they need to learn in their appropriate courses, but they get to learn their professors and classmates in a relaxing way.”

At the 2015 Math Jam program, the HSI/STEM staff members collected feedback from students who attended which showed satisfying results at 95.8 percent. Students said they would recommend the program to their friends.

“We received outstanding feedback from students who attended the last session,” Condori said