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F110 - Introductory Problem Solving
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F120 - Intermediate Problem Solving
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F130 - Introductory Problem Solving
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E120 - Honors Algebra Problem Solving
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E130 - Honors Geometry Problem Solving
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E210 - Introductory Math Competitions
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E220 - Intermediate Math Competitions
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E230 - Advanced Math Competitions
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G210 - Introductory Math Olympiad
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G220 - Intermediate Math Olympiad
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G230 - Advanced Math Olympiad
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N220 - Intermediate Physics Olympiad |
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Dear Friends of Avid Academy,
Happy Holidays! Welcome to The Avid Learner, an online newsletter of Avid Academy for Gifted Youth. |
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Winter Session Begins in December |
Avid Academy's Winter Session will soon begin, offering 10 weeks of Math Olympiad and Problem Solving training from December 1, 2008 to February 21, 2009. Our classes provide a balance of math competitions and academic problem solving, so that students can develop an interest in math and science while excelling in their academic pursuit. There is still time to enroll in the classes that are open. A waiting list has been established for classes that have reached their maximum capacity. Prospective new students should contact info@AvidAcademy.com for registration. For more information, please visit 2008-2009 Math Olympiad Training Program Winter Session Registration. |
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Math Olympiad - Round One Results |
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The results are in from the first round of the Math Olympiads. Seven Avid Academy students received perfect scores, and overall, the students were successful across the divisions. Students have been competing in the Math Olympiads for the past 30 years, and each year the pool of talented students grows larger. Last year 150,000 students from 5,000 teams worldwide participated in the Olympiads. Avid Academy's training sessions, while helpful for every kind of math competition, are especially useful for this particular contest. To learn more about the competition, please visit Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools. To see more results from all of our competitions, please visit Avid Academy - Results. |
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Mandelbrot Competition - Round One Results |
Avid Academy students have emerged triumphantly from the first round of the Mandelbrot Competition. All together, our team is now in 9th place, in contest with 57 other math teams from the western region of the United States.
Individual students also received high rankings. David Yang and Johnny Li both scored perfectly on the first test, giving themselves a headstart in an early 1st place. Other students who performed exceptionally well include Alex Zivkovic, Leo Kim, Kevin Zhang, and Larry Zhang, who completed most of their problems correctly, giving the Avid Academy team a high leading score of 49.
To learn more, you can visit The Mandelbrot Competition. To see the complete results from this and other math contests, please visit Avid Academy Results.
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Troy High School Students Win Siemens Regional Competition |
A pair of high school students from Orange County recently won the Western finals in the team category of the Siemens Competition. Aanand A. Patel and William Hong, both seniors at Troy High School in Fullerton, California, impressed the judges with a molecular biology project that focused on the causes of Alzheimer's disease. It's possible that these gifted students have moved science one step closer to completely curing Alzheimer's, which is the 6th major cause of death in America.
Both young men want to use their scholarships to attend medical school - Patel would like to be a research physician, while Hong wants to be a heart surgeon. The duo has further shared interests: both are members of the Red Cross, volunteers at St. Jude's Hospital, and the heads of their school's peer tutoring program.
The runners-up include more Orange County teenagers. Michael M. Lindeborg, from Dana Hills High School in Dana Point shares a $1,000 scholarship with team member Peter Changala of Northwood High School, Irvine. Patel and Hong's classmates, Alexander H. Wu and Emile M. Young, submitted another team research project, and will also receive a $1,000 scholarship for their effort.
Although the individual winner of the Western region, Erik Larson, comes from Oregon, his project was just as impressive as the Fullerton team's. Larson classified many existing and new fusion categories, which is an advanced mathematical concept, closely related to quantum physics. The judges were amazed by his understanding of math, which they supposed to be on par with an advanced graduate student, or even a professional mathematician. Larson has been involved in extracurricular advanced math programs since middle school, which he attributes to his success. Every year, the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology accepts advanced high school research from across the nation, looking for the brightest future scientists. The winners receive thousands of dollars in scholarships, funded in part by the College Board. To learn more about this year's competition, read The Last of the 2008 Siemens Competition Regional Winners Announced. To view the National Finals, visit www.siemens-foundation.org on December 8, 2008 at 9:30 am EST for a live webcast of the National Finalist Award Presentation. |
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Are Boys Naturally Better at Math? |
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Some people, like Lawrence Summers, former president of Harvard University, have hypothesized that there might be an "intrinsic aptitude" for mathematics - that is, that boys are just more capable in math than girls. This belief seems to have evidence in SAT scores, where more male students score in the 99th percentile than the female students. However, standardized tests are not the best means for calculating mathematical aptitude, as they ignore creative thinking and abstract concepts, focusing instead on concrete answers. A team of mathematicians comprised of Titu Andreescu, Joseph Gallian, Jonathan Kane, and Janet Mertz has done further research into the question of sex-based differences in mathematical ability. They determined that since European and Asian countries consistently produce talented female mathematicians, and the majority of high-performing female students in the USA come from immigrant families, that girls have the same aptitude for math as boys. American schools have been experiencing a decline in gifted females in math in the past 20 years - but this owes more to American society than to the girls' natural talents. The conclusion they reach is that there are less female academics in the USA because of an environment that devalues math; they further recommend more investment in gifted programs and schools. To learn more about their research, read Cross-Cultural Analysis of Students with Exceptional Talent in Mathematical Problem Solving. |
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E=MC2 Finally Proved |
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Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, which conjectured that energy and mass are interchangeable, has finally been confirmed through advanced physics experimentation. Scientists from across Europe gathered at France's Centre for Theoretical Physics, where they have been trying to estimate the exact mass at the center of atoms. Atoms are made out of protons and neutrons, which are the building blocks of even smaller particles known as quarks. Quarks are bound together by gluons, but scientists have been perplexed since discovering that quarks and gluons only make up 5% of sub-atomic particle mass. When pressed to find out where the missing 95% of these particles went, this scientific team found that that mass comes entirely from the energy created by the constant movements of quarks and gluons. Therefore, since energy can turn into mass, even at the smallest level of matter, Einstein's famous formula now has proof. This equation has been used for over a century for various scientific experiments, including, most infamously, for atomic weapons. However, it has remained mere hypothesis until now; since it can be definitively seen in sub-atomic particles, E=MC 2 can be used as solid theory. To learn more about this scientific breakthrough, you can read 103 Years Later, Einstein's Proven Right. |
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EPGY Online High School |
Your gifted student can complete a high school diploma in only three years, with the help of Stanford University's challenging Online High School. Students have the option to enroll full-time or part-time; this program can either be a substitution or a supplement for regular high school coursework. The Online High School will hold a few Virtual Open Houses, along with the option to sit-in for a class, these upcoming months. The closest open houses are scheduled for December 3 and December 17 - both Wednesdays - at 5:00 PM. Stanford University also offers self-paced online courses through their Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY). This is a unique educational supplement, since students can choose their own pace and content. EPGY has courses in math, physics, music, computer science, and language arts; the levels range from kindergarten through advanced university. They also offer special enrichment courses to help students prepare for the AMC. Each individual course starts at the first of each month. To register, you must apply before the 22nd of the previous month. Full-time applications for the Online High School will be accepted throughout January. Families can apply for financial aid for both the Online High School and the individual online courses. A list of EPGY's math classes can be found at EPGY Mathematics Department. All information about the Online High School can be found at Stanford University EPGY Online High School. |
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High School Reform Initiatives |
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Three US states - Utah, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire - are spearheading what may turn out to be a nationwide movement towards high school reform.
Educational leaders, forming a commission called New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce (NCSAW), are contemplating several new initiatives which will start in these Northern states. For example, they could allow focused high school students to graduate two years earlier, so that they could then move on to a two-year college-preparation program, or even straight to college. This would be a good way to help bored (but bright) children find a higher level to challenge themselves, and to keep lower-level students focused on their studies so that they could keep up with their accelerated peers.
Another idea is to implement a test like the United Kingdom's IGSCE in addition to (or instead of) SATs. The IGSCE involves a standardized exam like the SAT, but also includes assignments graded by teachers, so that every student's individual skills can be fully expressed.
Lastly, the NCSAW suggests, new schools could be made that would be run entirely by high-performing teachers. It might be beneficial if experienced teachers were in charge, instead of the usual school administrators that tend to be more business-oriented. If these ideas prove to be effective, the rest of the US may start up similar measures. In a time of change, it would be beneficial to rethink our national educational system - one which drags behind 20 other industrialized countries. To learn more about these states' efforts in changing their high schools, please read Three States Eye Bold High School Reforms. |
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SAT Scores Should Retain Importance |
According to Peter Salins, a professor at the State University of New York (SUNY), colleges have been wrongly de-emphasizing the importance of SAT scores. Universities have been paying less attention to SAT scores (in addition to grade point averages) in an effort to diversify their student bodies. Many educational experts have encouraged placing less importance on SATs; in the past several years, there have been countless claims that standardized testing is not an effective way to calibrate students' individual talents. Peter Salins, in collaboration with SUNY's admissions offices, has come to a different conclusion. Since SUNY has many campuses, Salins compared the campuses that have raised their SAT standards with other campuses that have kept their SAT standards the same (or have even decreased them slightly). Ultimately, Salins found that the campuses that have higher requirements for SAT scores have a much higher graduation rate than those with lower SAT requirements. Since GPAs and other admissions considerations have mainly remained the same across the board, Salins comes to the conclusion that a student's high SAT score presupposes their eventual college success. To read more of this New York Times editorial, see: The Test Passes, Colleges Fail. |
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Emotional Intelligence: Sensitive Gifted Children and Protective Parents |
According to many educational experts, children with high levels of intelligence tend to be extremely sensitive. Gifted children have excellent critical thinking skills, self-awareness, and intuition. Unfortunately, these positive traits can sometimes backfire when they're focused internally, and bright students may suffer from sensitivity - like easily hurt feelings, or a need to control their environment.
In turn, parents of gifted children often respond to this sensitivity with negative behavior. Dr. Debra Toxclair describes two different kinds of bad reactions: over-indulging, and over-controlling, both symptoms of over-protective parents.
Indulgent parents are afraid to set limits for their gifted child, especially as the child grows more independent; then, the parents become angry when their child steps over perceived boundaries. Children are often confused in this environment of conflicting messages. Toxclair recommends outlining boundaries from the start, even lenient ones, so that the indulgent parent and gifted child might reach a common ground. More common than over-indulgence is the over-controlling parent. This type of parent supervises the gifted child's every move, afraid to let him/her do anything independent. This behavior inevitably causes the child to become extremely shy, or suffer from burning resentment which might later explode. Essentially, parents of gifted children should aim for a balance: lay down rules when needed, but try to let children be independent so that they can have their own learning experiences. This is an incredibly hard feat for any parent, but Toxclair insists that the first step is to recognize - and then avoid - negative parenting behavior. To learn more, read I+S+O=SED: Intensity plus Sensitivity plus Overprotection equals Social Emotional Disaster. | |
I hope you enjoyed the information provided in this newsletter. Thank you for supporting gifted education in Southern California. If you have comments to improve our newsletters or would like to share articles, resources and ideas with our community, please email me at Dr.Li@AvidAcademy.com.
Sincerely,
James Li, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Avid Academy for Gifted Youth | |
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