The number 14 changed from a Base 10 number to a Base 2 (binary) number is 1110, students in Lorinda Kline's Math Camp Tuesday afternoon discovered.
They also discovered that changing binary number 101 to the decimal system is 5.
After learning how to change Base 2 numbers to Base 10 numbers, and back again, the 14 students then went outside and practiced their new skills on each other with chalk on the sidewalk.Tuesday was the second day of Math Camp at Edgewood Middle School. Math Camp is every day this week through Friday, from 1 to 4 p.m. The camp was open to all Warsaw Community Schools students in grades 6-8 who successfully completed pre-algebra.
Math Camp is partially funded by a Red Apple Grant from the Warsaw Education Foundation.
Kline, a math teacher at Edgewood, said the goal of Math Camp is to teach the students "enrichment, for whatever skill level they're at."
Some of her 14 students just finished pre-algebra and will be heading into the seventh grade. Others will be going into the high school and are still mastering math. Of course, Kline said, math is a broader subject area than most people realize and there's always something more to learn.
Math Camp uses a program called Math Counts. It's an initiative to take students deeper into math and fine tune their math skills, bringing them to a new level. "That," Kline said, "and a sheer enjoyment of math."
The students in Math Camp are no different than kids at a soccer or basketball camp, Kline said. They're working to improve their skills at something they enjoy.
Monday, Kline said, the students worked with the divisibility rules, prime numbers and did some trial math contests from the Math Counts program. Later this week, the students will explore trigonometry.
"I want to get better at math, and I want a chance to do well at Math Counts (competition) next year," said Alek Jansen, who just finished seventh grade.
"I personally enjoy math a lot, and Mrs. Kline is absolutely amazing, so when I heard about it, I came," said Kiara Stewart, who will be in eighth grade this fall.
Stewart said math is fun for her. Her dad also is a good mathematician, she said, so she grew up around it. "I think it's fun," she said.
Kline's own daughter, Hannah Kline, who will be in the seventh grade, also attended Math Camp.
"I'm just supporting her really. I like helping her. I helped put things together for her. It's fun. I never had her as a teacher, so it'll help me to know what to expect next year," Hannah said.
Lorinda Kline said the whole point of Math Camp is to give the students hands-on opportunities to learn and enjoy math.
"I'm trying to sell math here," she said. "So if they feel they're at boot camp, I'm not selling math, the passion I have for it."
