Enjoying Math: Learning Problem Solving with KenKen Puzzles

By Deepak Kulkarni

If you are looking to improve your math problem solving skills for math contests such as MOEMS or Math Kangaroo, this book is written for you. It is the second edition of a text-book for a year long course aimed at teaching creative thinking skills with KenKen puzzles. Students in this course improve their creative problem solving and KenKen solving skills significantly. Often, elementary and middle school teachers find it hard to make students enthusiastic about working on on challenging problems in math contests such as MOEMS, Math Kangaroo and Math League. However, enthusiasm influence students' concentration on work, their creativity as well as their willingness to work hard. Recreational mathematics can improve student motivation for working on math dramatically. This book includes over 100 puzzles and 200 exercises related to KenKen puzzles - all aimed to improving the creative problem solving skills. Over the last ten years, Dr. Kulkarni has successfully used puzzles to teach creative problem solving to students. His students have included top scorers in elementary and middle school math competitions.Prof. Harold Reiter, former director of AMC10 and AMC12 Competitions: "The book Enjoying Math: Learning Problem Solving With KenKen(r) Puzzles by Deepak Kulkarni is the ideal bridge from the solving of elementary puzzles to algebra. While some puzzles are suitable for all ages, the majority are accessible to grade-school children with no previous exposure to algebraic ideas. I highly recommend this book to teachers trying to motivate their middle school students. " A parent: Thank you for making my child believe that math is fun. Additional background about KenKen puzzles from puzzle website: "Japanese math teacher Tetsuya Miyamoto invented KENKEN puzzle so students could experience how much fun learning can be. The parents of Miyamoto's students know he gets results. Indeed, 80% of the children who attend his weekly classes later gain admission to Japan's most exclusive schools.That's not all: For the past five years, Miyamoto's students have dominated Japan's "Math Olympics," the country's top mathematics competition for students ages 11 to 15.This success is not due to any pre-selection of the children based on ability. Miyamoto's pupils are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. His method is straightforward: Students spend 90 minutes every week solving puzzles on their own. They quickly learn that perseverance is one of the keys to success!"

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0615702430
• ISBN13: 9780615702438
• Release Date: September 2012
• Publisher: Recreational Math Publications
• Length: 125 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.5" x 8.5"