SNAP Mathfairs
  • Home
  • Guidelines
  • Organizing
    • Organizing & Preparing for the Fair
    • Choosing a Theme
    • Different Types of Displays
    • Some Typical Projects
    • Who to Invite
    • Optional Timelines
    • Math Fair Club
  • Grading
    • Assessment Checklist (Grade 7)
    • Evaluation Guidelines (Grade 9)
    • Rubric for a Math Fair (Grade 12)
    • Marking Guide (Grades 5 and 6)
    • Math Fair Club Evaluation (Grades 4 and 5)
  • Resources & Contacts
    • Puzzle Sources
    • Contacts
    • Workshops and Conferences
  • Puzzles
    • Level 1 Puzzles >
      • Spoke Sum
      • Number Wheel
      • Buggy Jump
      • Pyramid
      • Nine Men in a Trench
      • Star Jump
      • Circle Jump
      • Circle Jump II
      • Four Cottages
      • Free the Animals
      • Sam's House
      • About the Solutions
      • Solutions - Level 1
    • Level 2 Puzzles >
      • Neighbourhood Sums
      • Eight Squares
      • Soko Puzzle I
      • Soko Puzzle II
      • Abdication
      • Regime Change
      • Stairways to Heaven
      • Catacombs
      • About the Solutions
    • River Crossing Puzzles >
      • The fox, the goose, and the grain
      • The fox, the goose, and the grain, and the dog
      • The mouse, the elephant, the dog, and the cat
      • Soldiers and children
      • Animal Crossing
      • The Three Thieves
      • The Missionaries and the Cannibals
      • Quarrelsome Boys
      • Jealous husbands
      • A Handful for the Farmer
      • The farmer, his children, and their pets
      • About the Solutions
    • Sudoku-Type Puzzles >
      • Cats, Cows, and Pigs
      • Latin Squares
      • Apple and Bananas I
      • Apple and Bananas II
      • Apple, Bananas, and Cherries
      • Four Skyscraper Puzzles
      • Colourful Cats and Pigs I
      • Colourful Cats and Pigs II
      • The Wizard's Hats
      • Four Colours
      • About the Solutions
    • Other Puzzles >
      • Catch the Thief
      • Cherry Glasses
      • Coin Jumping I
      • Coin Jumping II
      • Evensies
      • The 22 Game
      • Switch Positions
      • Spellbound Frogs
      • The Die Hard Jugs
      • About the Solutions
    • About the Solutions
  • About SNAP
    • Our Mandate
    • Our Supporters
    • Who Are We?
    • Curriculum Connections
    • The SNAP Approach and "Inquiry-Based Learning"
    • Some History
  • Gallery

Some History

The first SNAP type math fair was designed by Mike Dumanski and Andy Liu in 1997-1998. Mike was vice-principal of Our Lady of Victories Elementary School, and Andy was a professor in the Math Department at the University of Alberta. Andy has won many national and international teaching awards, and is well-known for making mathematics exciting for children. The staff at Our Lady of Victories found that the typical science fair was too competitive and that parents were the ones who did most of the project. They approached Mike about doing another activity, and Mike thought they could do something with math. "I really didn't know where to go, so I called the University of Alberta and they put me in touch with Andy." Andy and Mike then worked out a set of guidelines for the math fair, and these are essentially the ones that we have been using ever since.

At the same time, Jim Timourian was the undergraduate chair in the mathematics department at the University of Alberta, and he was worried about the state of Math 160, a math course that was offered to preservice Elementary teachers. Ted Lewis was slated to teach the course in the second term. At a meeting with Andy and Ted, it was suggested that the students in Math 160 could do a math fair for themselves.

By coincidence, Ted had contact with a teacher at Parkallen Elementary School. A deal was struck that the Math 160 students would bring their math fair to Parkallen school, and that in return, the Parkallen students would hold their own math fair and invite their parents. The math fairs at Our Lady of Victories and Parkallen were unbelievably successful, and since then a large number of schools in the Edmonton region have adapted the SNAP math fair to their needs. The SNAP program has been spread through workshops and conferences, and mainly by teachers themselves.