Mathematics is Music for our Minds

About

Sunil Singh was a math, science, physics, and English teacher for 19 years, teaching in various high schools, ranging from the most socio-economically challenged one in Toronto to an International IB School in Switzerland. He left teaching in 2013 to embark on a new journey for himself that would intersect a completely new world to him–the history of mathematics.

He is the author of three math books, Pi of Life: The Hidden Happiness of Mathematics, Math Recess: Playful Learning in an Age of Disruption, and Chasing Rabbits: A Curious Guide to a Lifetime of Mathematical Wellness.

Professional Development and Workshops

For Teachers

Uplifting Mathematics By Uplifting Students

The quality, scope, and purpose of mathematics must be prioritized in order for all students to have the best experience and outcomes. In this workshop teachers will see mathematics that is filled with awe, wonder, magic, and historical value. As well, they explore more inclusive and wider purposes for learning mathematics that are aligned to present and future wellbeing for all students and teachers. Great mathematical content is student-facing, and how we deliver that is teacher-facing. We need both.

Teaching Mathematics As A Journey Through Its History, People, and Stories

Every idea and concept of mathematics that students learn in their own journey of mathematics was once not known or poorly understood by humans. This is an important idea to illustrate that mathematics is really the story of “slow failure”, and its thematic development through all races, cultures, and civilizations is a narrative that must be embedded to have a fuller and deeper understanding of the awe and wonder of mathematics.

The 5 Pillars of Mathematical Fluency

Our current math education system has a narrow belief of what “fluency” means in mathematics. It goes beyond proficiency and agency. It attends to what it truly means to be fluent in language. And since mathematics is the language of the universe, we need the broadest of idea of mathematical fluency. The pillars are factual, procedural, conceptual, historical, and contemporary. All five will be examined in detail and threaded together to give a more powerful idea of mathematical fluency.

Testimonials

Sunil understands that math, as we know it in schools, with its emphasis on standardization and certainty, has engendered anxiety, antipathy, and boredom. He does not shy away from this reality. He embraces and honours the lived experience of educators and he helps them to turn the page and start a new chapter in their learning. Sunil works alongside educators, immersing them in math content that is carefully curated to fill them with wonder, joy, and curiosity. As a school leader, working with Sunil has been the best professional development I have ever personally experienced or had the opportunity to share with my staff. Sunil insists on dialogue, engagement, and reflection. He does not present staff with the mirage of easy solutions. Instead, he gets lost with them in rich content and encourages questions. Each session with Sunil becomes a shared story, a unique ‘snowflake’ like moment that he creates with the participants. Sunil models what professional development and learning should look like – an opportunity to play, explore, and share. In doing so, he humanizes math and conjures the vision of what it might be in our schools – a subject of beauty and endless complexities set against the backdrop of an extraordinary tapestry of cultures, personalities and human history.

Mark Sonnemann

Principal, ALCDSB

Math Explorers: Adventures in Arithmetic

For Students

There are five different workshops I do with students that revolve around the main goal to strengthen fluency in numbers, patterning, and problem-solving. That is, by strengthening their curiosity for them. The core philosophy behind these workshops is for children to discover and learn the hidden joy and wonder that is rooted in a richer exploration of basic mathematics

One, Two, Buckle My Binary Shoes!

This is not only a natural expression in having interest in trying to grow numbers through exponentiation, but serves as an important doorway in learning about the power and magic of all things “2”. In this session, we learn about them and play some easy to play games that reflect those ideas.

The Hidden Powers of Zero

The way we have been taught about numbers has failed to utilize the anchoring power of zero.
We all have a perfectly clear concept of this number that means nothing, but have failed to utilize it in a way that strengthens our fluency with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In this session, we will fully explore the true historical meaning of zero and how it can better help us with understanding basic arithmetic operations.

The Secret Pattern of Exponents

Once children begin to add, they begin to learn multiplication. Once they understand that concept, they are also ready to learn about exponentiation. In the first session we doubled. In this one we will triple, quadruple, etc and see there are some cool patterns that emerge. All you need is to have a calculator to explore the different “codes” that each base from 2 to 11 have.

Perfect Numbers: Math’s Golden Tickets!

One of the most important branches of mathematics is called number theory, and it is accessible to the youngest learners. Simply understanding the difference between an odd and even number is a valuable piece of knowledge that builds foundation for learning more challenging ideas in number theory. In this session, we will begin there, but fully explore what a perfect number is and how rare they are!

Historical Patterning In Mathematics

Curiosity for patterning in arithmetic is a foundational skill that is greatly enhanced when looking at it through the lens of storytelling/narrative. In this session we will examine some of the most famous patterns in arithmetic and how they sometimes take us down these rabbit holes of deeper inquiry and understanding.