WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
MOTIVATION 1: The Importance of Number Sense and Conceptual Understanding in Math Learning
MOTIVATION 2: The Delayed Effect of Lack of Understanding and Number Sense
MOTIVATION 3: Optimal Learning Approaches for Children
MOTIVATION 4: The Lack of Effort for Involving Family in Young Children’s Math Learning (Not the parents’ fault)
MOTIVATION 5: The Lack of Resources for Families and the General Public (reason behind Motivation 4)
WHY THE NAME “COCONUT MATH”?
REASON 1: How it looks from the outside.
REASON 2: What is hidden inside.
REASON 3: When you try really hard, but in the wrong way…
REASON 4: The path to the sweetness inside
REASON 5: How you feel
WHO ARE WE?
Yingying Crystal Feil, founder of CoconutMath. Crystal has a Ph.D. in educational psychology (with a focus of math education and learning motivation) and an M.S. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has many years of research experience in mathematics curriculum development and teaching strategies. And one of her biggest passions is to increase children’s motivation in learning.
Her work on math education has been focused on bridging the gap between what has been found in research and what is available to parents and families. While many math learning efforts target schools, she firmly believes that families play a vital role in a child’s education. Therefore, the focus at CoconutMath has been on creating math games that can be played at home or in small group settings, as well as providing caregivers with resources for understanding math learning.
Crystal is also a mother of two children (age 15 and 13). During her years as a mom, she has discovered many effective and fun math learning activities that are not traditionally used at schools. She is hoping more children can benefit from building number sense and learning math through hands-on games and activities.
Lara Greiman, coordinator and co-leader of pilot programs. Lara has a BA in Elementary Education and a Masters in TESOL. She spent 10 years as a teacher, 8 of those in kindergarten, before becoming a stay at home mom. Lara adores working with kids and has always been the most creative and fun teacher while helping children learning concepts in depth–no matter whether it is math, music, or Sunday school and VBS.