A+ Academy

Mindset Math’s New York team members Ashley, Annie, Zabi, and Medine had the chance to teach a four-day camp at A+ Academy. Swipe to see the program outcomes and what we found through both quantitative evaluation and students’ feedback!

Over four days, we got to watch a really noticeable change in how the students felt about math. A lot of them walked in saying things like “I don’t like math” or “math is boring,” but as the week went on, you could see the shift—by the second day, those same kids were laughing, working together, and even saying the activities were fun!

In the mornings, the group followed a genetics-themed storyline from Around the World in 80 Math Problems, where students used math to understand concepts like genetic diversity and solved puzzles related to gene expression. In the afternoons, students experienced a mix of Mindful Mathletes and STEM & Stitches lessons. They learned how the parallel postulate breaks down in a different world of geometry and explored that idea through balls of yarn and a crochet model. Ashley and Zabi also introduced the basics of graph theory, which turned out to be a highlight—many students listed it among the top three things they learned in their post-program surveys.

Outside of lessons, students bonded over music and snacks, and the classroom energy grew more positive each day. On the last afternoon, several of them said they didn’t want to leave because they had enjoyed the camp so much!