Participant Testimonials

Apr 26 - Apr 28, 2013

The SNAP Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mandate is to encourage the development of mathematics learning resources at the classroom level with very little retraining of the teaching staff, with very flexible budgets, and by utilizing the energy and natural curiosity of the students themselves. The main theme of the BIRS workshop was, “What is a SNAP math fair and how to organize a math fair in your classroom”. The speakers mostly consisted of teachers/educators who shared their math fair experiences and success stories. The first SNAP type math fair was designed in Edmonton by Mike Dumanski and Andy Liu in 1997-1998. Since then, a large number of schools in Alberta and beyond have adapted the SNAP math fair to their needs. The SNAP program has been spread through similar workshops and conferences, and mainly by teachers themselves. SNAP received its initial funding from the Canadian Mathematical Society and from private donations. PIMS, the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, has been a long time financial supporter of our math fairs. BIRS, the Banff International Research Station, has provided funding for the BIRS math fair workshops that have been held in Banff on a regular basis. Currently, our major supporter is Thinkfun - a company that develops a variety of excellent puzzles. This year marked the tenth annual Ted Lewis SNAP Math Fair Workshop at BIRS. Some of the feedback from elementary teachers is given below: “I had a terrific time with the group! Thanks for sharing all of the ideas and puzzles!” “Thank you so much for the invitation to the SNAP Math Fair Conference! I am absolutely thrilled with the possibilities I have to bring math alive in my classroom and school. I am so excited to spread the information, websites and puzzles that I was able to gather at the conference. I greatly enjoyed hearing the various perspectives on math fairs and can't wait to plan one of my own. Please keep me on your mailing list and inform me of other SNAP activities that I could participate in.“ “Thank you for organizing this event. I know that my kids love playing games, so any new ones are always welcomed in my room. It was fun as always and it hurt my brain just a bit.” Thank you BIRS for providing a location for another successful workshop. We are extremely grateful for what you do to help SNAP math fairs grow. Sincerely, The SNAP Foundation

Sean Graves Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta