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Field Trip to Google Emphasizes Importance of Math for Middle School Students
Each year, the middle school elective "Advanced Topics in Mathematics" explores math from a real-world perspective, rather than through the pages of a textbook. This semester, the class of 28 students elected to study statistics, game theory, and virtual reality programming. The culminating experience of the elective is a trip down to the Google headquarters in Mountain View. “This trip is always a great way to end the semester,” says teacher Ali Frank. “The students love this field trip. Given that Google is a very hands-on work environment, the students are encouraged to be interactive and touch things throughout the tour.”
The tour was given by Rohan Thompson, electrical engineer and marketing director at Google, as well as by Brandeis parent Paul Haahr (parent of Ali, 5th grade, and Matthew, class of 2015). The class toured the campus, heard about the history of Google, played in some of the relaxation rooms, and had lunch. Adds Ms. Frank, “In my mind, Google epitomizes what the Bay Area has to offer: creativity, exploration, and keeping yourself young at heart. This field trip further strengthens my claim [to my students] that math is beyond numbers; it’s about looking beyond what you see on the page and using the beautiful math equations to make something that makes the world a better place.” MORE PHOTOS
