Idaho the Innovator

I suddenly recalled a program that my mom had helped organize when my brother was in elementary school, where students asked friends and family to "sponsor" them for a math test by committing to pay them an amount, say ten cents, for every right answer they got. I'm sure there were prizes, too. I don't know what came of it—in retrospect, it seems less audacious than it was originally thought to be, and plus, cash incentives seem to be a terrible idea to me for people under the age of 12—though they did raise a great deal of money... And I guess it beats selling wrapping paper!

On a slightly related note, Idaho is in the news today for a new pilot program for second- and third-graders called First Move, through which the state has agreed to finance (they guarantee $600,000) the teaching of chess chess in classrooms. I actually think this is kind of cool, partially because I don't know how to play chess, and also because I like the idea of learning critical yet practical applications of math.

“One of the things that we hear is that too much of what we do is based on rote memorization,” Mr. Luna said. “The part I really like about this program is that kids are thinking ahead.”

And it's a unifier!

“I actually have one student who is originally from Russia and two Hispanic students who have limited English skills, and chess kind of leveled the playing field, and it kind of helped their self-esteem issues,” she said.

Read the NYT piece here.