"Are there any volunteers?"
Rueyin Chiou's question hung in the air as she scanned over some 200 faces at the Tumbleweed Recreation Center in Chandler, Ariz. It was Aim High Institute’s first fundraising dinner and, at first, nobody in the crowd of potential parents wanted to participate in this "Human Brain vs. Calculator" challenge. But then, one brave parent stepped forward, to try his luck and battle against the brains of third-graders.
They sat at a brown table at the front of the room, facing a projector screen. The preteens held dry-erase boards and markers; the parent gripped the calculator. At any moment, 10 numbers would flash across the screen at intervals of 0.25 seconds. They would add, subtract or multiply the digits as instructed to see who could get the answer first.
The audience was still. The numbers started flashing, one after the other. The parent punched the calculator keys, but he was too slow. In seconds, the students scribbled the answers and hoisted the whiteboards into the air. The parent did manage to tie the students in some of the longer multiplications problems, but overall, his adult fingers were no match for their elementary minds.
"The calculator can't do anything about it because they're too quick," Chiou said of the students from her IQ Abacus Math and Language School, an after-school tutoring center. "The parent was throwing up his hands."
As far as numbers go, most math and reading scores in American schools are less than equal to the scores in Asian nations such as Japan and Taiwan. But, Chiou said, her students' advanced skills prove that kids can reach higher levels at a faster pace with the right global learning approach. That was the idea behind Aim High Institute, a new K-8 charter school that will open in Arizona this summer.
Globalism from the ground up
Founded by Chiou and Dr. Fawzia Mai Tung, a medical doctor with experience as a school principal, Aim High will offer a smorgasbord of successful teaching methods — with international flavor.
"I always believed in globalization," Tung said. "My father was a diplomat and I traveled all over the world. It never made sense to stay in your own little corner. We're looking for the best curriculum from all over the world. I'm not saying we should copy everybody, but let's learn what makes them successful."
By bringing some of the world's best academic practices to the classroom, the co-founders seek to develop students that can compete internationally and communicate in a global society. The four main cornerstones of the program consist of STEMG (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Globalism). The curriculum includes methods such as abacus math and Singapore Science, and students, including kindergarteners, will learn Arabic or Chinese five days a week.
"We have this influx of immigrants," Tung said, "and yet, their descendents don't necessarily become experts of the language."
These world-tested techniques appeal to Chiou and Tung because they both have seen the flaws of the nation's current education system firsthand.
"Most of our high school students are not able to pinpoint Paris on a world map," Tung said. "And the textbooks are terrible. They're made by people who do not really realize how learning takes place. It happens in the children's brains. Why are we using methods that don't promote learning?"
