Numberama: Artistic Psychology and Mathematical Giftedness
I have developed a unique mathematics enrichment program that I refer to as "Numberama," that explores fascinating patterns of numbers to enhance the appreciation of mathematics as an enjoyable, stimulating, challenging, and recreational educational activity. I have recently conducted my Numberama program with gifted children in Maine, with exceptional results.
About You
Section 1: About You
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Natural Dimension Learning Center, Inc.
Organization Website
Organization Phone
207-338-4576
Organization Address
526 Swan Lake ave., Swanville, Maine 04915, U.S.
Organization Country
United States
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Your idea
Name Your Project
Numberama: Artistic Psychology and Mathematical Giftedness
Country your work focuses on
United States
Describe Your Idea
I have developed a unique mathematics enrichment program that I refer to as "Numberama," that explores fascinating patterns of numbers to enhance the appreciation of mathematics as an enjoyable, stimulating, challenging, and recreational educational activity. I have recently conducted my Numberama program with gifted children in Maine, with exceptional results.
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
I have conducted my Numberama workshops with a wide spectrum of children and adults in various educational and mental health environments for over 20 years. Recently I worked with approximately 50 gifted chldren from grades 2 through 8 in a Maine school district, where I gave weekly Numberama lessons to mathematically inclined gifted children. Some of these children had mental health problems as well, inclusive of Asperger's syndrome and ADHD behaviors. I have also conducted my Numberama program in a mental hospital for children, and in community mental health agencies. My Numberama program is based upon my philosophy of mathematics as an art form, and is a concrete representation of what I refer to as a "natural dimension of mathematics" (see my article "My Conception of Integral" published on the Integral World website at www.integralworld.net and attached below). Quite recently I gave two poster sessions at the American Psychological Association conference in Toronto, entitled "Mathematics as an Art Form" and "Artistic Psychology, Mathematical Giftedness, and Mental Disturbance in Children." My philosophy of mathematics as an art form has been with me for many years. I have had a career as a mathematics professor for over 20 years, with a Ph.D in mathematics and a number of published artilces in the pure mathematics fields of Algebraic Number Theory and Commutative Algebra, and I am currently in a Ph.D psycholog program at Saybrook University. My combination of mathematics and psychology is part of how I consider myself to be an authentic philosopher, deep at heart.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
I have successfully offered my Numberama mathematics enrichment program in a wide variety of educational and therapeutic environments, ranging from Maine public school districts through national teacher education workshops through work with gifted children and gifted children conference workshops to adult education family workshops and mental health workshops. The impact of my Numberama program has been recorded through student feedback and teacher feedback, and has invariably been affirmed to significantly improve children's attitudes towards and appreciation of mathematics, their arithmetic skills and creative thinking in mathematics, and their collaborative social skills engaging in creative thinking in small groups. I have submitted a comprehensive article describing my Numberama work, with the title of "Artistic Psychology, Mathematical Giftedness, and Mental Disturbance in Children," to the American Psychological Association Diviosn 10 (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts) journal (attached below). This article is the basis of two poster sessions I gave at the recent American Psychological Association conference in Toronto, which generated much interest in my Numberama program.
Problem
The problem I am addressing with my Numberama program is the current lack of appreciation of the beauty of creative thinking that is inherent in mathematics. We live in a highly mechanized extremely technological society, in which children are being taught to gain instantaneous knowledge in the form of information by accessing large data banks of computer input storage. Although our techological resources certainly has its effective and efficient uses, the beauty and art form inherent in mathematics is in grave danger of being lost to our future generations, and matheamtics as art form and creative discipline is precisely what my Numberama program has as its central mission to convey. The joys of creative thinking and problem solving in mathematics can be an antidote to the modern technological blight our children are currently experiencing in their mathematical education, as well as a therapeutic vehicle to enhance the creative potential and constructive social interactions of our mathematically inclined gifted children who have mental disturbances.
Actions
I have had a wide range of experience in offering my Numberama lessons and workshops to children and adults in public schools, family settings, mental health facilities, and gifted student environments. The common ingredient that runs through all these diverse Numberama contexts is the theme of mathematics as an art form. Mathematics is a creative, enjoyable, and meditative activity for me, and I have a natural way of conveying my enthusiasm for mathematics through the number theory problems and games that I have developed as part of my Numberama approach. In the case of gifted children with a mathematical inclination, this has proven to be esceptionally rewarding for the creative stimulation of thinking "out of the box" it allowed them to do. For gifted children who also have mental disturbance issues, especially Asperger's syndrome, the collaboration in small Numberama groups with other gifted children who were relatively free from mental disturbance issues has beem a rich source of beneficial therapeutic activity.
Results
I have received grants from two different organizations in Maine to conduct my Numberama program in a Maine school district for three years, and for 6 months in a mental hospital for children, from 2001 through 2004. In 2005, my non-profit corporation, Natural Dimension Learning Center, Inc. was funded directly by a Maine school diistrict for me to offer my Numberama program to a wide variety of their classes. The teacher ratings of my Numberama program were invariably escellent in terms of the children's benefits regardng attitude towards mathematics and improvement of mathematical skills and creative thinking. These benefits were prominently displayed in my 2007-2008 Numberama work with gifted children in a Maine school district through a survey that was distributed to the children who participated in the program. See my "Numberama, Mathematical Giftedness, and Mental Disturbance in Children" article below, shich also includes the results of a behavioral intervention I did for a group of gifted children with severe social interaction difficulties.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Approximately 300 words left (2400 characters).
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Approximately 250 words left (2000 characters).
How many people will your project serve annually?
Fewer than 100
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
In what country?
United States
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Natural Dimension Learning Center, Inc.
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
No
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
No
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
Approximately 150 words left (1200 characters).
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
Approximately 300 words left (2400 characters).
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Web Search (e.g., Google or Yahoo)
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
 | 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 143 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 144 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 144 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
| 144 weeks agoElliot Benjamin updated this Competition Entry. |
