Faculty and students in Chapman University’s Teacher Education program have launched a new Community Math Learning Center that integrates teacher education training and community math enrichment. The math center uses a virtual learning environment to serve local families and youth while giving teachers in training at Chapman hands-on practice.

The primary goal of the program is for the Chapman students and the K-12 children to learn by doing. The abrupt shift to remote learning last spring presented both a massive challenge and an opportunity. Like so many educators forced to transition to remote instruction this year, Chapman faculty and students had to enhance their knowledge of educational tools to teach mathematics in a virtual environment.

To integrate these tools and help families and students access resources, Cathery Yeh, Ph.D., faculty director of the new center, and her team created a Virtual Math Classroom as a one-stop shop virtual learning environment. Yeh said the virtual learning tools have offered Chapman students a wonderful opportunity to prepare for their future classrooms.

Families and educators are encouraged to make a copy of the Virtual Math Classroom, which includes math resources and a Math Task Bank with 30 different types of math tests and tasks, from pre-K through 12th grade.

Students and faculty also created a free, online Chapman U Math at Play Video Series. Posted to an open YouTube channel, the series addresses pre-K through 8th grade mathematics standards and is accessible to educators and families alike. Video lessons are available in English and Spanish. Activity handouts are also available for download in English and Spanish.