Epsilon and Delta: Discovering the beauty of mathematics with elementary school children

What is mathematics and why learn it? Certainly it’s a handy tool, which is reason enough to learn it. It’s useful for figuring out one’s bill at a restaurant or for building an AI chatbot. A further reason to learn mathematics is that it is a vast, beautiful landscape, whose exploration is challenging and deeply satisfying.

Many basic mathematical ideas are in fact conceptually simple and approachable for elementary school children, yet are often taught much later. One example is a set. Second graders can very easily understand unions, intersections and Venn diagrams. Functions are another example, especially when explained from a programming point of view. Second graders can enjoy working with basic functions, especially if they see them as basic building blocks for how computers work.

Epsilon and Delta is a series of monthly math workbooks that I write for children. The main idea is stated in the subtitle: Discovering the beauty of mathematics with elementary school children. The goal is to expose children to mathematical ideas and to begin to develop an understanding and appreciation for mathematical concepts.

In my experience, elementary through high school math education focuses quite strongly on the very practical aspects and learning practical skills. That’s very reasonable and important. Epsilon and Delta is not a substitute for standard math education, nor is it intended to help children test well in the standard curriculum. It is intended as an enrichment, much like music, a foreign language or robotics club.

My first and second grade kids play several math games on their iPad. They ask to play almost everyday and if we didn’t limit their time, they would probably play for several hours. Kids prefer games, and so the challenge with Epsilon and Delta and my own children has been getting them to do it regularly. Their iPad games have snapping alligators if they don’t add their numbers correctly and a tree house that gets bigger if they do. Epsilon and Delta won’t have these nice features. But, if a child sits down and does a couple pages a couple days a week for at least couple years, it will be an early journey into a vast, beautiful landscape.