CHAMP (the Cougars and Houston Area Mathematics Program) is a mathematics and

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outreach program that ran from Fall 2013–Spring 2019. CHAMP was created and directed by Mark Tomforde, and it used volunteer effort from undergraduate and graduate students to provide tutoring and mathematics lessons for high school and middle school students from underserved communities surrounding the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. CHAMP lessons were taught in an interactive style similar to a math circle.

Impact and awards

In 2018 CHAMP received the Award for Mathematics Programs That Make a Difference from the

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. In addition to the announcement of the award, the

Notices of the American Mathematical Society ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'' is the membership journal of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), published monthly except for the combined June/July issue. The first volume appeared in 1953. Each issue of the magazine since ...

published an article describing the impact of CHAMP and the community of the Third Ward of Houston, which it served. CHAMP had measurable success in increasing the

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and growth mindset of the participating students, and CHAMP was commended for its successes in bringing more persons from underrepresented backgrounds into the mathematics pipeline. It was also noted that CHAMP had numerous reciprocal benefits for its graduate and undergraduate volunteers, inspiring many of them to pursue graduate studies in mathematics or pursue careers in mathematics education. Also in 2018, CHAMP received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for Engaging Broader Audiences and both

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and the Houston Mayor's office recognized CHAMP as one of four exemplary local organizations that serve as national models for building creative exchanges with diverse audiences in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences or mathematics. CHAMP was supported by a Tensor-SUMMA grant from the Mathematical Association of America from Fall 2015–Spring 2018.

Resources

Although the program ended in 2019, CHAMP maintains a legacy website and copies of its lesson materials can be downloaded from its "Schedule Page".Schedule page of CHAMP website

References

External links

* {{official, https://champ-outreach.org Mathematics education in the United States