About Plato's Playground
About Plato's Playground
Plato's Playground is both the name of a Math club the author, a Ph.D. mathematician, created for his younger daughter's elementary school in 2006, and an AI-backed Android app which the author developed to illustrate one of the projects written for the Club. The primary purpose of the club was to introduce elementary school-age children to the beauty of Mathematics in a way that had never been done before.
Plato's Playground is both the name of a Math club the author, a Ph.D. mathematician, created for his younger daughter's elementary school in 2006, and an AI-backed Android app which the author developed to illustrate one of the projects written for the Club. The primary purpose of the club was to introduce elementary school-age children to the beauty of Mathematics in a way that had never been done before.
Mathematical topics are often presented to young children based on the misguided belief that the first things that need to be presented are arithmetic tables: memorize the addition and multiplication tables because young kids are unable to grasp more advanced concepts without a firm knowledge of arithmetic. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, as the success of the author's weekly Math club showed.
Mathematical topics are often presented to young children based on the misguided belief that the first things that need to be presented are arithmetic tables: memorize the addition and multiplication tables because young kids are unable to grasp more advanced concepts without a firm knowledge of arithmetic. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, as the success of the author's weekly Math club showed.
The complete program, of which the app is one of the topics, consists of over twenty math "projects", each one based on math topics introduced at the undergraduate and graduate school level at the University of California, Berkeley, which the author attended. The Math club included basic concepts of Probability theory, Number systems, the Euler Characteristic, Minimal surfaces, non-orientable surfaces, Logic puzzles, Knot theory, Prime numbers, Fractals, Algebraic geometry and more. And yes, the children, all between the ages of 5 and 12, not only grasped these concepts easily but were thoroughly engaged the entire hour the club met.
The complete program, of which the app is one of the topics, consists of over twenty math "projects", each one based on math topics introduced at the undergraduate and graduate school level at the University of California, Berkeley, which the author attended. The Math club included basic concepts of Probability theory, Number systems, the Euler Characteristic, Minimal surfaces, non-orientable surfaces, Logic puzzles, Knot theory, Prime numbers, Fractals, Algebraic geometry and more. And yes, the children, all between the ages of 5 and 12, not only grasped these concepts easily but were thoroughly engaged the entire hour the club met.
What the app covers
What the app covers
The Plato's Playground app is currently only available for Android devices. In it, we teach children how to count to 31 on one hand. Don't believe it's possible? Check out the YouTube video that shows how it's done.
The Plato's Playground app is currently only available for Android devices. In it, we teach children how to count to 31 on one hand. Don't believe it's possible? Check out the YouTube video that shows how it's done.
The app starts off with counting using the binary number system, starting with 0 and proceding sequentially to 31. The student is invited to ask questions of their own at any time or to instruct the AI "tutor" to ask them a question in order to test their understanding of the topic. It's a fun topic, since most children don't know that they are able to count higher than five on one hand and they love showing their friends how it's done! Communication with the tutor is done using natural language, either by typing out text or using the microphone; just talk to it as you would with a real person. The tutor can communicate in over 50 languages, including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
The app starts off with counting using the binary number system, starting with 0 and proceding sequentially to 31. The student is invited to ask questions of their own at any time or to instruct the AI "tutor" to ask them a question in order to test their understanding of the topic. It's a fun topic, since most children don't know that they are able to count higher than five on one hand and they love showing their friends how it's done! Communication with the tutor is done using natural language, either by typing out text or using the microphone; just talk to it as you would with a real person. The tutor can communicate in over 50 languages, including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
How much does the Plato's Playground app cost and where can I get it?
How much does the Plato's Playground app cost and where can I get it?
The app is free and contains no ads. You may download Plato's Playground from the Google Play store.
The app is free and contains no ads. You may download Plato's Playground from the Google Play store.
My school would love to present the above topics to our students.
My school would love to present the above topics to our students.
Plato's Playground has available complete lesson plans for all of the topics that were developed for the original Math club. Please write to me for pricing. We can also provide online- and, in some cases, onsite teacher training for implementing the lesson plans by personnel who don't have an advanced mathematics background.
Plato's Playground has available complete lesson plans for all of the topics that were developed for the original Math club. Please write to me for pricing. We can also provide online- and, in some cases, onsite teacher training for implementing the lesson plans by personnel who don't have an advanced mathematics background.