USC Coach Announces Season 3 of Martin’s Math Club

Columbia – The SC Education Oversight Committee (EOC) today announced the third season of “Martin’s Math Club,” a partnership with University of South Carolina Head Men’s Basketball Coach Frank Martin and the University of South Carolina Athletics Department. Season 3 was announced at Dent Middle School in Richland 2, as Martin “took-over” Ms. Chakalah Crawford’s sixth grade math classroom. Martin, a former high school math educator, developed the project designed to help young people learn that math is fun and relevant in their daily lives. This is the third year of the program which promotes the teaching of math through the game of basketball.

“This contest is about opening doors for young people and giving them the ability to connect with math through athletics,” Martin said. “This project is a valuable tool for teachers to connect math with the game of basketball and better motivate their students to learn.” 

The contest provides the opportunity for teachers and students in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade to win two tickets to a University of SC Men’s Basketball team home game. With assistance from South Carolina math educators, the EOC has published 27 standards-based lessons for K-8th grade that incorporate math and basketball. Each teacher that incorporates at least one of three available lessons in each grade level into their teaching has the chance to win two tickets to a South Carolina home basketball game and each student who receives a lesson will be eligible to win two tickets to a home basketball game. Winners will be recognized at each game and may have the chance to meet Coach Martin. Contest details can be found online at www.helpwithmathsc.org.

“The EOC is so pleased that this project is so popular with SC students and teachers, and Coach Martin is an excellent ambassador for education in our state” stated EOC Chairman Neil Robinson. “These lessons show young people how math is not only relevant in their daily lives, it is in the game they love too!”

Along with “Martin’s Math Club,” the EOC has published resources to help families and others help support specific math concepts learned at school. The grade-specific tools can be found online at www.helpwithmathsc.org. Math educators from South Carolina helped develop the content, which guides users to appropriate books, websites, apps, as well as sample activities.