Math?
With a little help, it's as easy as 1-2-3
 .When everyone involved in a program benefits, success is fail-safe and widespread.
Now in its third year, the Mathematics Early Field Experience (MEFE) program continues to touch four interrelated groups: CSUC students, better known as "our future teachers;" elementary students who learn that math is fun; and the CSUC instructors and the elementary teachers who collaborate and learn from each other how to make a great program even better.
"MEFE, a semiannual event organized by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, provides approximately 300 Liberal Studies (LS) students with an opportunity to engage children in learning mathematics each semester," Math Professor Rapti de Silva wrote in an e-mail.
On Friday, Nov. 4th, prospective elementary school teachers enrolled in MATH 110, 111, 310, and 311 will spend the day with fifth and sixth graders from McManus Elementary School. The elementary students and teachers come to Chico State, something they enjoy. In the spring, students from Parkview Elementary School will participate in the program.
The LS students engage their elementary partners through many hands-on activities including playing games. Most instructors pair students 1-1, but in some cases pairs and groups of CSU students collaborate to have their elementary students work with each other for at least a portion of the one-hour meetings.
The LS students teach content that connects the mathematics they learn in their four content courses: MATH 110 (numbers and operations), MATH 111 (problem solving approach to probability, statistics, and data analysis, and geometry), MATH 310 (algebraic reasoning), and MATH 311 (geometry). The future teachers gain invaluable experience in planning for the teaching experience, getting practice teaching, and reflecting individually and as a class on what they learn.
Program evaluations reveal that the elementary students just "love it!" and benefit from exposure to a college environment especially since they visit the campus two to three years in a row as fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.
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