Hundreds of students representing schools all over New Providence gathered at the Melia Nassau Beach resort on Friday to hear well-known mathematician Po-Shen Loh, who addressed the students, teachers and representatives from the Ministry of Education on a website that he is designing to make mathematics more approachable for students at all levels.
The event was sponsored by Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF), a charitable entity missioned to find the world's best minds and promote open-minded, forward-looking inquiry in a wide range of fields. The foundation works with top academic institutions and leading experts from around the globe. The organization supports discoveries relating to the big questions of human purpose, the natural world, and ultimate reality.
Associate Professor of Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, and founder of Expii.com, Po-Shen Loh explained that his aim is to provide math education to the whole world, while fundamentally shifting the attitude towards mathematics.
With a background in mathematics as well as computer science, Mr. Loh aims to demonstrate that there is more to math than what is taught in the classroom, while adding a fun aspect to the subject. He believes that with the help of others, he can create a system that would help in convincing students in this regard.
"Think of this as a way to deliver textbooks to every corner of your country for free." Loh said. "We are trying to provide this so that anyone in the world with a smart phone can get personalized education to help them learn mathematics.
While conducting a brief tutorial with the teachers and subject coordinators, Loh explained a benefit of the program.
"If somebody was at home trying to figure out their homework or if somebody was in the situation where they are trying to take a math class that was not offered in their school because they had gone beyond the last level, this is a resource they can use."
Loh reassured his audience that this program was not to replace teachers but to help them in their lesson delivery.
"I think that the purpose of teachers is to provide this very unique experience that I think will be very hard for a computer to ever provide."
Right before Loh spoke with the students about the website, they watched a film based on a true story about Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-taught Indian mathematics genius, "The Man Who Knew Infinity".
After the official event, math students ranging from grades 9-12 had a chance to speak, be photographed with the math genius and sample the refreshments provided for attendees. Loh was able to leave a positive impression on the participants, while opening up their eyes to mathematics.
"The event today was an unusual experience because...I never thought that math could be so extreme in a beautiful way. He helped me open my eyes to see that math is more than just hard work and numbers, but it actually can create something a little more advanced for our liking to help us better," said Tyeisha Collie, a student at Akhepran International Academy .
Melissa Burrows, also from Akhepran International Academy, said "It was amazing, I'm a big fan of math and just seeing the movie inspired me more to pursue math and sciences."
Along with hosting the event, Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF), which was founded by Sir John Templeton, is one of the main sponsors for Po-Shen and the Expii program.
Tracey Farquharson, executive associate at TWCF, said "We want to share a lot of the work that our grantees are doing and we want to be able to share things that we think will benefit the community, and the event was a great one to start with because it involves children and it promotes creativity."
"We want to see Expii grow and expand, we want to see some Bahamian students or teachers contribute to Expii."
The event with Loh, the national coach for the USA International Math Olympiad team, was free of charge.
Many attendees left the math event feeling inspired whiles wanting to take their math studies to the next level. They also showed great interest in Expii.
Dyontalee Turnquest Rolle, grade level coordinator and 1st grade teacher at the Eva Hilton Primary School, highlighted what she liked most with the program.
"I like the overall concept of Expii. I feel like we should have somewhere to go, similar to a reference point. It gives us a start, it gives us exactly where to go to get credible information because what I get from it is that if something is found to be inappropriate it will be deleted. I like how Expii organizes everything and also the fact that the students wouldn't have to actually interact with anybody, that will help the child because they can work freely."
Po-Shen Loh received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Caltech in 2004, graduating first in his class. He received a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 2005, and completed his Ph.D. in mathematics at Princeton in 2009. He joined the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in the same year. Loh, the national coach of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad team, counts among his numerous distinctions an International Mathematical Olympiad silver medal and the National Science Foundation's CAREER award.

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