Math Studio In the News
Boston Globe | North Shore Sunday | Daily Item | Salem Evening News
Boston Globe

October 12, 1997

Math and History Are Teamed Up

Every year about 3,000 schoolchildren visit the House of Seven Gables in Salem to hear of Nathaniel Hawthorn and early American literature, colonial life, the China trade and, of course, the secret staircase. As of this fall, they might also master some new concepts in math.

Counting the seven peaks of the seven gables is not part of the innovative program, which is called "Spectacular Seven Search: An Interdisciplinary Navigation Adventure," but there are plenty of other math activities built into it.

For example, as part of the program, students visit the historic counting house, which was once used by merchants to keep track of imports and exports. Youngsters will be assigned a problem they can solve only through calculations made from an accounting book. They are also asked to examine the diamond-paned windows at the back of the Hooper-Hathaway House to determine how many panes the builders began with.

The program is a collaborative effort of Cathy Draper, founder of the Math Studio in Salem, and Ann McCamy, school programs manager of the House of Seven Gables. Draper, a former textbook writer, mathematician, and independent educational consultant, has long been introducing innovative ways to learn and visualize math concepts. She volunteered her time to develop the program.

McCamy is responsible for the educational programs and activities hosted by the site, which comprises the House of Seven Gables, the Nathaniel Hawthorne birthplace, the counting house, Hooper Hathaway House, and the Retire Becket House. The two met at a professional conference and say they were amazed at how naturally the subjects of history and math mesh.

For more information, call The House of Seven Gables Education Department at (978) 744-0991. For more information about The Math Studio, call (978) 741-4305.

Go see a sample activity from the Spectacular Seven Search.

North Shore Sunday

June 11, 2000
A radical approach to teaching math
By MARIE LINGBLOM

Draper's Math Studio, now located on Washington Street in Salem, features programs to help those who favor visual and tactile learning styles figure out math problems using hands-on methods. The old methods of just memorizing formulas don't help anyone really understand math. Draper says she is all about understanding the logic behind math. Anyone can do it, she says.

"For a lot of people the traditional methods are still really tough. There's a great deal of anxiety associated with math," says Draper. "And for a long time, it was just 'this is how you do it, therefore do it this way.' That attitude is finally starting to change."
So if you are having difficulty figuring out the algebraic equations of parallel and perpendicular lines in a graph, Draper will probably just say you're not "playing algebra with a full deck." Deck of cards, that is. Draper is probably best known for her unique decks of playing cards designed to demonstrate a variety of mathematical topics - including those darned irrational roots.

Photo caption: Catheryne
Draper is probably best known for her unique decks of playing cards designed to demonstrate a variety of mathematical
topics. She teaches math skills at her Math Studio in Salem.

Photo credit:
MARIE LINGBLOM

Each deck is constructed to demonstrate one feature to help the student focus while learning. Each deck is also divided by topic for middle school, high school and college level classrooms. The decks have become so popular they are now being used in the classrooms of 14 states across the country. As a bonus, you can also play Gin Rummy and Go Fish with them, too. "They've really taken on a life of their own," she says.

Draper's "Algebra Game is even featured in the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education.

For more information about Draper, the Math Studio and the math game cards log on to www.mathstudio.com or call (978) 741-4305.

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Daily Item
Classical High students dealt lessons in algebra

By Jill Ricker
Monday, May 19, 2003

Text Box: Lynn Classical High School student Tom McMaster plays the linear graphics portion of The Algebra Game at Classical High last Thursday. (Item Photo/Owen O'Rourke) Lynn Classical High School student Tom McMaster plays the linear graphics portion of The Algebra Game at Classical High last Thursday. (Item Photo/Owen O'Rourke)

It's not exactly Go Fish, but a new card game is teaching students at Classical High School about linear equations.

The cards, called The Algebra Game, were created by Salem educator Cathy Draper, who was seeking a new way to gauge her students' knowledge.

"Ten years ago, I wanted to develop a way to assess what kids know quicker," Draper said. "If kids could match things or not, then I would be able to determine what they knew or didn't know. Then it just grew and grew."

The game, which is being used across the United States and Canada, covers topics from algebra to trigonometry within 22 decks of cards. Each deck has a different focus, so students can use different decks as their knowledge base grows.

Classical currently has five decks, which were donated by Sovereign Bank, as part of Math Education Month in April.

"Many teachers had expressed an interest, but, because of cutbacks and budgets and so forth, they couldn't buy them," Draper said. "So I mentioned a sponsorship to local businesses, and approximately seven schools and businesses took advantage of it on the North Shore."

Math Department Head Elaine O'Malley said the cards have four levels, which teach equations, graphing and computation.

"It introduces the subjects slowly," she said. "It's a great introduction on how you put together algebra, graphing and computations. It's a great way to get the concepts across."

Draper said, "The students match five cards together to find out everything they need to know about that particular area, whether it be graphing, equations, slope, point pairs or Y-intercept."

O'Malley said she became interested in the game because it offers a different way of teaching.

"We're always looking for different ways of getting concepts across," she said. "This is a hands-on manipulative and an interactive visual aid, so they can actually feel the cards and match them up. They get to learn it in a fun, easy way."

Draper said her goal in creating the game was to take information from a book and make it interchangeable.

"They study the same pieces (that are found in textbooks), but it's kind of hard to mix them around because they're written in a book," she said. "You can use it as reinforcement or while teaching."

O'Malley said the game can be used with single students or groups of students, and she expects it will work well with students who have different styles of learning.

"For those students who have problems with computation, this sort of takes that out of the picture," she said. "It's a great way to start off students. We're excited."

Draper said the game has proven to be successful with all students.

"When field tested, it worked with all levels and all abilities," she said. "It works very well with all of them. The really bright kids see the connections faster. For the other kids, they are intrigued because, for some reason, they didn't understand it before."

Draper said math is not the only subject The Algebra Game focuses on.

"Literacy," she said. "There is a lot of opportunity to write and describe what you see."

O'Malley expects to begin using The Algebra Game regularly at the start of the school year in September.

Salem Evening News

Curing ‘innumeracy’
August 4, 1989

She fights math anxiety with vision

A News staff report

SALEM - Catheryne Draper once had students measure football field lines to understand angels. She has used blue yarn to teach the mathematical concept of pi. And she believes a five-gallon jug of buttons can help explain statistics more clearly than words.

Draper, the director of the Math Studio who sometimes doubles as Tudo the Clown, shows her students how math works, rather than talking to them about abstract concepts or numbers."
Because 40 percent of students are 'visual learners' Catheryne Draper helps them see math concepts at her Math Studio in the Colonial Office Park off Jefferson Avenue.

I truly believe a higher percentage of people can understand math. It's not an esoteric subject," Draper said the other day from her studio in the Colonial Office Park. "Especially if they saw it like I see it. But they can't see if there is nothing to see.

Many people have trouble understanding mathematics, according to Draper, because of the traditional teaching methods used. Most teachers talk about math. Yet many students are what Draper calls "visual learners" and must see before they can understand. "Einstein didn't do well in algebra. He flunked algebra. He couldn't do anything until he saw it in his head," she said.

Over 40 percent of students are visual learners, according to a study done by educational authors Dunn and Dunn. Draper said over 60 percent of her students at the Math Studio fall into this same category and must translate verbal instruction to their own visual mind.

The number of people who are illiterate in math, according to Draper, is startling. She finds even more disturbing the wide-spread acceptance of this failure to understand math. She points out there wasn't even a word for math illiteracy until last year when author John Allen Paulos defined it as "innumeracy ... .. tone says out loud, 'I can't read. But people will admit they can't add fractions," Draper said.

"Why is this innumeracy accepted? I don't know," Draper said. "Maybe because a lot of people can't do math. "If we, as teachers don't hit their learning style, then a person doesn't get it. Traditional math is not taught in a myriad of styles."

Draper has developed more than 200 activities to give her math students something to see and touch. Wooden yard sticks screwed together allow students to see parallels and feel angles. Folded cards help a student visualize inverse function. "I want to give them the ability to take a difficult problem and turn it into an easily understood concept," she said"No one has ever asked an opinion in math. 'It's three plus two equals five. Shut up and do it.' I'm asking for students to participate.

"I'm more of a coach," said Draper. "I want the student to have some control over their own learning. When a student learns to control their own learning, their self esteem goes up. When you feel like you have control, you can do anything."

Letters on her wall are a testimony to the method's effectiveness. "Since I have been with you, I have been doing great in math, in fact math is my favorite subject. Thanks a bunch," wrote one student.

"I did awesome in math this year," wrote another.

Draper, who earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from the University of Georgia, began her career as a high school math teacher in Georgia, where she once took students to a football field to measure angles. She has also been an editor and consultant for a publisher of math books.

In 1983, Draper began tutoring from her Salem home, helping students overcome "math anxiety." Her practice grew until she opened her office at the Colonial Office Park in 1985.

Draper, who teaches on a one-on-one basis, has students who range in age from a second grader to a 68-year-old man. Her students are all bright and creative, but have trouble with math. Business professionals, including plumbers and lawyers, go to the Math Studio for help. And she recently tutored a retired man who picked up math as a hobby.

Draper, who sometimes dresses as Tudo the Clown to teach math workshops to youngsters, has had her techniques used in classrooms in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C. She plans to publish many of the activities next year, which will allow more widespread use of the techniques.


The Math Studio, Inc.
81 Washington Street, Suite. 6, Salem, MA 01970
phone: 978-741-4305  |  fax: 978-744-4306
e-mail: info@mathstudio.com