Overview

Student-Teacher Ratio 6:1

Founding Story: As a parent looking for simply the best math education for my mathematically inclined child, I had my child try every existing offering in the market. However, I found them too rigid, too dry, and lacking the individualized, high-quality teaching I was looking for. Therefore, I left my executive career and started Descartes Learning Club to offer an extremely high-quality math and logic after-school learning experience that I would like my child to have because many more children deserve this to achieve greatness in life.

Our world-class advisors include Lexing Ying, a professor of mathematics at Stanford University, and Xiaomin Chen, a former coach of the Chinese IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad) team, which currently ranks #1 worldwide.

Expert Instructors: 

- Jacopo, our senior instructor, has a Master’s Degree in Mathematics with a 3.9 GPA and was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award from UC Berkeley, where he taught for 12 terms. Previously, Jacopo has also taught elementary school, middle school, and high school students for numerous years, including preparation for various math competitions. 

- With an accomplished career as an entrepreneur and business leader, Beatrice holds an MBA degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business and is the Founder & CEO of Descartes Learning Club. Having also taken graduate-level courses in early childhood education, Beatrice has taught many highly popular classes to the students who've taken our math after-school classes. 

Topics & Activities:

Students will take engaging math & logic enrichment classes that involve lots of 1:1 guidance due to our 6:1 student-to-instructor ratio and rigorously trained expert instructors (see above), learn to play chess, and develop problem-solving skills by playing various strategy board games while exploring gameplay strategies. They will also enjoy plenty of outdoor recess play at the nearby Chan Kaajal Park and indoor play building Lego, playing strategy board games, or reading.

See details of the deep-dive math topics below. In addition, we will also assign individually calibrated math practice to each student based on their math proficiency levels during these day camps:

  • Set Theory (June 17-21): It’s the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets. It’s a great topic that both broadens the students’ mathematical knowledge and develops logical thinking. Its uses go far beyond the development of logical-mathematical thinking. Understanding set theory allows us to use the sets as a tool to analyze, classify, and organize the knowledge acquired to develop the complex conceptual network in which we store our learning. Among the various mathematical theories, set theory is noteworthy for its role as a foundation and reunification of (almost) all other branches of mathematics, as geometric figures, numbers, graphs, and virtually every other mathematical concept can be thought of as a set. 

  • A Mix of Age-Appropriate Math Circle Topics (July 1-3): We plan to cover a curated mix of age-appropriate math circle topics selected from Berkeley Math Circle and Moscow Math Circle resources covered in books such as A Decade of the Berkeley Math Circle: The American Experience, Math Circle by the Bay: Topics for Grades 1–5, and A Moscow Math Circle: Week-by-Week Problem Sets. For each topic we cover, students will work on problems at varying difficulty levels. 

  • Combinatorics (July 8-12): It is the branch of mathematics studying the enumeration, combination, and permutation of sets of elements and the mathematical relations that characterize their properties. While combinatorics is often taught as an undergraduate course, we’ve had success introducing the topic to elementary school students, including 1st-graders and 2nd-graders, in an accessible and engaging way. This is also one of the favorite topics of many math contests. Research studies have shown that combinatorics problems provide opportunities for rich mathematical thinking and foster desirable mathematical practices. Additionally, combinatorics plays a pivotal role in many different areas of mathematics. It is absolutely indispensable when studying (discrete) probability, and it is also useful for a number of topics in linear and multilinear algebra. From the pedagogic point of view, combinatorics is an ideal topic for K-5 students, thanks to the lack of prerequisites besides arithmetic. 

For our chess classes, we will use the internationally renowned “Steps Method” developed by Rob Brunia and IM Cor van Wijgerden. IM Cor van Wijgerden also has a background in education but devoted most of his life to chess. He was the national coach of the Dutch women's and youth teams. The “Steps Method” is the official method of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation and is widely used throughout Europe and gaining popularity in the United States.

For our strategy board game sessions, we will not only play the games but also teach students to think strategically and explore different gameplay strategies. Students not only develop critical thinking skills but also practice their ability to communicate their thoughts in a playful environment. The games we will play may include The Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne.

Itinerary
What to Bring
Cancellation Policy
Photos
From Provider (2)
Reviews
Been here? Write a review and earn points.
Questions & Answers
About Descartes Learning Club
Descartes Learning Club is a boutique premium math enrichment program that offers individualized classes and camps with small class sizes of 2-6 students, a…
Usually responds within 1 business day
Related Categories