May 01, 2012
Helping to strengthen math literacy among New York City students,
The
School of Education at St. John’s University’s Staten Island campus
invited nearly 30 local elementary school children
— and their parents — to an evening of creative problem-solving
activities that made them partners in building strong quantitative
skills.
The third and fourth graders, from St. Clare Elementary School
on Staten Island, came to campus as part of Family Math Night, held
on April 19 in the Teaching and Learning labs in the DaSilva
Academic Center. The School of Education designed the
initiative to foster academic excellence through parent-child
collaboration. The first families to apply were selected for the
program.
One purpose of the program was “to cultivate productive
parent-child collaboration, a proven factor in higher academic
achievement,” said
Regina Mistretta, ‘87Ed, Ed.D., Associate Professor of
Education and Coordinator of Undergraduate Programs, Staten Island
campus.
“Parental
involvement in their child’s school work, and closer communication
between teachers and parents, are thought to be primary factors in
improving a student’s performance in school,” Dr. Mistretta
explained. “At a time when children clamor for more help in math
and parents often feel ill equipped to provide it, this program was
designed to bridge that gap.”
Another purpose of Family Math Night, said Dr. Mistretta, was to
provide St. John’s undergraduates with additional, real-world
teaching experience. “The 18 students who acted as
facilitators were enrolled in my Methods of Teaching Mathematics
course,” she said. “Participating in this program strengthens
teaching skills at partnering with parents, a necessary component
of teacher preparation.”
The School of Education at Staten Island sponsors a variety of
initiatives to support the quality of elementary, intermediate and
secondary school education in the borough — including a recent Math
and Science Family Initiative. For the most part, graduate students
served as teachers.
Family Math Night activities engaged teams of parents and children
in an atmosphere of “friendly competition,” said Dr. Mistretta.
Parents worked side-by-side with their children in teams that
progressed through eight stations of mathematics activities based
on current-day curriculum learning objects. Families also received
tickets to use in a raffle. First prize was an Apple iPad2, second
prize a $100 gift card to Best Buy and third prize a $100 worth of
educational mathematics materials.
“The more we prepare our teachers to cultivate parent-child
collaboration,” said Dr. Mistretta, “the stronger the bridge
between home and school becomes. This exercise at the University
would pay dividends if parents embrace such an approach at
home.”