Maths Circle: interactive format designed to spark deep thinking

Group lessons based on the math circle concept. Students are encouraged to go well beyond the topics prescribed by the school curriculum. The math circle concept, which brings together mathematicians and students to solve problems, was introduced in the U.S. in 1994 by Robert and Ellen Kaplan at Harvard University. This tradition, which originated in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and in Bulgaria before 1907, was brought to the U.S. by émigrés who later established math circles in their communities.

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Program

Each session follows a structured yet interactive format designed to spark deep thinking:

• The teacher presents a challenging problem—often inspired by Olympiad or logic-based maths.

• Students are given 2–3 similar problems to think about independently.

• After a few minutes, one student volunteers to start explaining or writing a solution.

• A group discussion begins: students contribute ideas, offer corrections, and build on each other’s thinking.

• The teacher never gives away the solution, but instead guides the group by asking questions, highlighting constraints, and encouraging deeper reasoning.

• Then the teacher presents the most optimal solution, explaining the limitations or advantages of the approaches suggested by the students.

• At the end of the lesson, homework is posted in a Google Doc based on the topics that students found challenging. Students upload their completed homework to a personal folder (labeled with the date of the lesson); this folder is private and accessible only to the student and the teacher.

The teacher may also share common materials for group discussion—in that case, students comment and submit their solutions in a shared folder.

This method encourages collaboration, confidence, and independent thinking—hallmarks of mathematical maturity.