Arithmetickles

“I wish “Arithmetickles” was around when I was in school.”

2009-12-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

Again and again, whenever people hear the name “Arithmetickles” they ask if it actually does make math fun. Invariably, they say the above comment. Many adults remember their math classes in school as the worst drudgery. The memories of difficult, boring, long, incomprehensible exercises with lots of yawns, fluorescent lights and green walls pop back into minds after years or even decades outside of the classroom. The most interesting numbers in class were the ones on the clock that slowly but eventually wound around to freedom announced by a shrill, but welcome, bell.

And yet, these same adults don’t seem to complain about math in their current everyday lives. People calculate tips, know exactly how many miles they get per gallon, often spend hours on stock market sites or figuring out if they should “rent or buy”. And people love to shop and shopping involves a lot of math. Folks who can instantly figure out how much they’ll have to pay for that great Coach bag (or Armani tie) after the 30% discount (with the extra 15% off for being a “preferred customer”) will swear that they are terrible at math!

Many experts seem to agree that the way math has been traditionally taught discourages creativity and the “wow” factor that makes math really interesting. After all, math can be the most exciting puzzle, and we all love puzzles in one form or another.

Here’s an outrageous statement:

People love things that are fun and hate things that are boring…so let’s make math fun!

Scary Math… Funny Math!

2009-12-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

In many schools, math is still taught by the “teacher talks”, “student listens” and then “student tries to understand the words and use the concepts while solving a problem on paper” method.

At Arithmetickles we think there are a few more steps, and possibly even a few different ones. And we believe deeply that people learn when they think that something is fun, exciting, even scary…but not boring.

Numbers can be scary …but number can be funny…actually numbers can be both scary and funny!

Here’s the scenario:

You are in 5^th grade and you’re onstage with 7 classmates in front of 300 of the most important people in your life…also known as the rest of the 5^th grade.

The lights are shining in your eyes…dramatic music is playing.

When it’s your turn, the host of the show puts the microphone right near your mouth and you have to (very quickly) say the next number in a sequence while remembering to jump up as high as you can.

The pressure is on!

It’s a moment you’ll never forget, but…you won’t forget how much fun it was, either. When you get back to class you’ll want to do it again with all of your classmates. And after school you’ll show it to your friends. And when you get home you’ll want to do it with your mom and dad. You may even try it with the dog…

And that, in one of our many nutshells, is Arithmetickles!

"Arithmetickles" - - Our Very First Blog Post!

2009-08-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome friends, far and wide:

I am most sincerely proud to introduce "Arithmetickles" to you, the blog-reading audience.

"Arithmetickles” is a unique, interactive show for school assemblies and for parent/student evenings that combines the two wonderful worlds of theatre and math....and makes them highly engaging and very funny!

We (ArtsEcho) produce "Arithmetickles"; we are a non-profit organization (since 1988) dedicated to promoting the arts and the artists who create them. And so, Arithmetickles uses live theatre and creative games to demonstrate (vividly and hilariously) just how much fun (believe it or not!) is hidden in the everyday world of numbers and math.

“Arithmetickles” and the wonderful performers who host it "adjust" the show to the audience present so that the games in each show are geared to each grade, from those innocent and adorable Kindergarteners through those too-cool, peer-conscious 8th graders....(who adore the show; one of our performers told us that after a middle-school show, she finally knew how rock stars feel after performances!)

Parents and teachers all over the US have said really, really nice things about us, such as that we are "wildly original” (we are), that we make math lots of fun (we do) and that we help kids (and sometimes adults) get over their fear of math (we sure do that!) There is a ton of math to be found in life every single day and we point it out in great stories, theatre games, puzzles, skits and mysteries. And, of course, we use fun theatre things like sound effects, mime, slow motion, and lots of audience response.

OK, I admit it. I'm a big fan. And so are all of those people who have made “Arithmetickles” one of the most frequently performed assembly shows in the US.
We need to show our kids that studying math is a great thing to do! That will take them into all those science and technology fields that are, let's face it, the FUTURE (and we all know it).

On this blog, we hope to explore some of the ways that math is being taught and used creatively (around the world) and how we can help to get kids love it! That's the first step...

So please check out "Arithmetickles" on our website, fan us on FaceBook, read this BLOG! And all comments are more than welcome and eagerly anticipated!