Math Class Brings Browning Together with Girls’ Schools

Browning Middle School students have the new opportunity to have an after-school math program with girls’ schools, Spence and Nightingale-Bamford. 

Starting in October 2019, the boys and girls began to work on age-appropriate math problems after school on Fridays. The program takes place at Browning and is attended by nearly 20 boys and girls and led by two teachers. The Browning boys believe that this is a wonderful way to challenge themselves in math and socialize with girls. 

“It is fun to do challenging math with friends and meet new people,” Ezra M. ’26 said.

The program was created to encourage collaboration between boys and girls, Danielle Passno, Middle School Head and the program’s faculty advisor said. 

“This is an activity that Mr. Klein and I thought about last spring. We're lucky we were able to bring it to life so quickly,” Ms. Passno said. 

The main objective is to foster curiosity in math using non-traditional methods in a relaxed and friendly setting. 

“Our curriculum does not coincide with our school curriculum; rather we look for problems that are easy to start but hard to finish,” Ms. Passno said. 

Through teamwork, students have miniature tournaments and create algebraic formulas to realize patterns.

“It is great to solve problems as a group,” Ezra said. “It feels like we are a real class, even though we go to different schools.”

Since the math program is well attended, Ms. Passno’s hope is that it will remain as an offering to Middle Schoolers and will expand in scope and mission.