CHASING EINSTEIN
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History

193

preservice teachers

472

5th-7th grade students

FALL 2022

7

preservice teachers

82

5th-6th grade students

We partnered with Megan Severtson's 5th and 6th graders at Flandreau Public Schools.

​Here are the things we did...
- Each DSU Math Mentor had 3-4 teams that they mentored. Each DSU Math Mentor ended up with about 12 students.
- The DSU students were only able to earn EPs for their teams by finding Easter Eggs.
- The DSU students were able to give their mentees EPs for showing progress in their attitude and effort scores and for creating good responses to the reflection questions.
- We created team names, but we didn't create team logos. 
- These are the challenges we did: Solve Me Mobiles, Mystery Grid, Who Am I?, Quizizz Challenge, Area Maze, Mashup Math, Polyup, Factris & Factors and Multiples.

​Photos:

SPRING 2022

18

preservice teachers

61

6th-7th grade students

We partnered with Kindra Wiese's 6th and 7th graders at Madison Middle School.

Here are the things we did...

- Each DSU Math Mentor had 1 team with 3-5 students on it. 
- The DSU students were only able to earn EPs for their teams by completing challenges and finding Easter Eggs. One of the challenges they could complete was doing a daily Ooodle puzzle or Nerdle puzzle. If they completed it and shared a tweet about it, they earned 30-50 EPs for their team. We connected with the creator of Ooodle who was from the UK which was fun. 
- The race for first place was really competitive this semester. There were a couple DSU students that really wanted to win and get their name on the trophy.
- These are the challenges we did: Solve Me Mobiles, Mystery Grid, Who Am I?, Quizizz Challenge, Area Maze, Mashup Math, Polyup, Factris & Factors and Multiples.

Top 3 Teams:
#1: The Limit Breakers - Math Mentor: Alyssa Smith; Students: Houston, Luke, Brayden
#2: Always Right - Math Mentor: Jazlynn Pederson; Students: Mason, Bryce, Lexis
#3: Solution Society - Math Mentor: Kayla Gerken; Students: Paislee, Cherish, Brooklyn
​​
​Photos:

FALL 2021

3

preservice teachers

141

5th-7th grade students

We partnered with Shelby Rang's 7th and 8th graders at Hamlin Public Schools, Kindra Wiese's 7th graders at Madison Middle School, and Samantha Johnson's 6th graders at St. Vincent de Paul School in Omaha, NE. My Secondary Math Education majors served as math mentors for the students as a part of their SEED 301 - Technology for Math Teachers course.

My DSU students learned how to manage the scores for the game using Google Sheets. They did a great job coming up with formulas to calculate things quickly and automatically.


Top 3 Teams:
#1: We Like Pi - Math Mentor: Maddie Groft; Adrien, Samantha, Drake, Anni (Hamlin)
#2: Mathmagicians  - Math Mentor: Maddie Groft; Kennedy, George, Jack, Jaden (Hamlin)
#3: Calculus Clan - Math Mentor: Maddie Groft; Jeanette, Karson, Kenna (Hamlin)

Photos:

SPRING 2021

24

preservice teachers

118

5th-7th grade students

​We partnered with three classrooms at Aberdeen OMT Elementary, Kindra Wiese's 6th and 7th Graders at Madison Middle School, and 5th graders at Big Stone City. 

Top 3 Teams:
#1: Brilliant Brains - Math Mentor: Callie Martens; Meadow S., Serenity T., Edson Z., Ella H., Carsen P., Arianna D., Brooklynn. T (Big Stone City)
#2: Mathmagicians  - Math Mentor: Sam Pies; Avery B, Evie L, Tyler O, Krissy M, Cooper J (Madison)
#3: Limit Breakers - Math Mentor: Hattie Clap; Brookelynn M, Justin P, Vivian J, Wyatt L, Adonis R (Madison)
​
​Photos:

Fall 2020

25

preservice teachers

98

5th-7th grade students

We partnered with Madison Middle School, Deubrook, and Platte-Geddes. 

Top 3 Teams:
#1: Divide & Conquer - Math Mentor - Samantha Johnson; Ava D, Seth K, Caleb P (Madison)
#2: The Denominators - Math Mentor- Brooke Berry; Danielle W, Cameron W (Platte-Geddes)
#3: The Mathletes - Math Mentor - Mara Adams; Miranda, Hidvera, Keely (Madison)

Photos:

Spring 2020

22

preservice teachers

53

5th-7th grade students
I'm working on this.
covid
​did this with Kindra's class only

planned to present at NCTM

Fall 2019

33

preservice teachers

98

5th-7th grade students
Brandi - grad student - created web site, videos, etc.

Spring 2019

22

preservice teachers

120

5th-7th grade students
Brandi was a GA - started on web site...

presented at SDCTM??

Fall 2018

26

preservice teachers

88

5th-7th grade students
We partnered with Kindra Wiese at Madison Middle School and 3 sections of her 7th grade math class as well as Jenna (Grossenburg) Huck at Aberdeen OMT Elementary and her 5th grade students. We followed a similar format ​as the pervious semester. Dr. Smith's 26 students in K-8 Math Methods served as math mentors to their 5th graders and 7th graders. 

Brandi Antonsen Fiegen was involved as a student teacher in Kindra Wiese's classroom. 

26 preservice teachers (11 DSU students; 15 SDSU coop students) and 88 5th-7th graders  (21 Aberdeen OMT, 67 Madison Middle) participated.



​Photos:

SPRING 2018

25

preservice teachers

14

5th grade students
Dr. Smith made some major revisions to the challenge. He partnered with one of his former students, Jenna (Grossenburg) Huck, and her 5th grade class at Aberdeen OMT Elementary. Dr. Smith's DSU students served as math mentors for Ms. Grossenburg's 14 5th graders. Each week the DSU math mentors would create videos explaining one of the math practice standards to their 5th grade teammates. The 5th graders would watch the videos, complete weekly math challenges, and then reply to their math mentors using Flipgrid. The DSU math mentors earned Einstein Points (EPs) for completing optional math challenges. The 5th graders earned points for their attitude and effort on the math challenges and for creating quality videos each week. The goal was to give the DSU students an authentic experience implementing gamification with students and to give the 5th graders a fun experience learning about the math practice standards and doing various math challenges.

25 preservice teachers (DSU students) and 14 5th graders participated.


The Dream Team won the challenge with Kristen Steffen, Andrew Fiegen, and Preston Nordling serving as math mentors.

Photos:

Fall 2017

40

preservice teachers
The Chasing Einstein Challenge begins.

​Dr. Smith was looking for ways to introduce his K-8 Math Methods students to the concept of gamification as a strategy for engaging students and making math fun. The challenge consisted of a menu of optional challenges that students could complete to earn Einstein Points (EPs). The students were organized into teams and their EPs were combined and the team average was used for a leaderboard. The team at the top of the leaderboard at the end of 9 weeks was crowned the winner. Their name was printed on the coveted Chasing Einstein trophy.

40 preservice teachers participated (15 from DSU and 25 from SDSU).


The Number Ninjas won by a wide margin. They had several players that did a LOT of Khan Academy which was one of the optional challenges. I had to adjust the scoring moving forward to keep things a little more even. 

Brandi played in this first challenge as a student.

​Photos:

ABOUT

Chasing Einstein was created by Dr. Kevin Smith and Brandi Antonsen Fiegen. Learn more about the background and history of this project.
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  • Home
  • Get Started
  • Challenges
    • Introduction
    • Math Practice 1
    • Math Practice 2
    • Math Practice 3
    • Math Practice 4
    • Math Practice 5
    • Math Practice 6
    • Math Practice 7
    • Math Practice 8
  • Resources
    • Partnering Classrooms
    • How to Guide
    • Math Practice Videos
    • Math Challenges
  • About