Math Forum: The Co-Op Perspective

Two students from the College of Education, Gina DiDomenic and Casey Sneider, have been working at the Math Forum as part of Drexel University's co-op program. Here's what they did, in their words:

As two students interested in education, we’ve had a great experience working at the Math Forum. Not only did we get to go into classrooms and observe teacher-student interactions, but we also got to come up with methods for teachers to use in their very own classrooms.

Here is a glimpse into our Math Forum experience.

Gina DiDomenic

Hi, I’m Gina, I’m currently entering my junior year at Drexel University and am just now finishing my second co-op.

As stated above, I had the privilege of working at the Math Forum, and it has been a wonderful experience.

It had been very difficult for me to find an education-based co-op, since most education jobs are field experience-based, which you do in your later years at Drexel, but I was lucky enough to find this one.

I got to do things I love every day at work. I would solve various math problems each day (I love math!!) and try to think of methods for how to solve them. At first I found this a little challenging, because when solving a problem you are used to doing it your own way — and that’s it. However, with this I had to think outside the box. Solving problems for elementary students was probably the most difficult. Even though the problems were much easier, I had to keep in mind that they did not have all of the same schooling as me yet. For these problems I used various methods such as drawing a picture, or using manipulatives.

I had a great time at the Math Forum, and I’m definitely going to miss it. I will carry on the skills I learned here into my own classroom one day.

Read about Casey Sneider's experience here.