Hippest Homework Happening Planned for National Math Awareness Month

WALTHAM, Mass., April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- April is National Math Awareness Month and thousands of middle school students from across the country are poised to make homework history -- and give their teachers a much-deserved night off.

Kids and teachers who want to participate in what's being billed as the Hippest Homework Happening on April 26 can log on to http://www.mathmovesu.com/ TODAY to sign up. On that evening, students can do their math homework with kid-cool celebrities like Tony Hawk, Mia Hamm and Dave Mirra. Plus their teachers will get a break.

When kids visit http://www.mathmovesu.com/ , they'll not only find compelling math problems designed with the help of some of America's top math minds, but they'll also be able to apply for scholarships, grants and even win prizes. The Raytheon Company, a leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services and business and special mission aircraft, created the MathMovesU program to show kids how math can lead to exciting careers.

It's no secret that America's math and science skills are in crisis. And experts say that focusing on the fundamentals -- like homework -- could help. A recent Raytheon-sponsored survey of middle schoolers showed that 84% of them would rather clean their rooms, eat their vegetables, take out the garbage and go to the dentist than sit down with their math homework. Yet these same students, sixth to eighth graders, say they want to do better in math (67%) and that doing well in math is important to them (94%).

"If we can help young students understand that math can be their gateway to interesting careers by showing them that their heroes think math is important, then we're a step closer to averting a future shortage of people qualified for jobs requiring science, engineering and technical training," said William H. Swanson, Raytheon Chairman and CEO.

The MathMovesU program shows kids how their heroes use math every day in unexpected ways: soccer star Mia Hamm talks about calculating speed and endurance and the force of the ball, skateboard champ Tony Hawk challenges kids with how to build the right ramp, and pro basketball player Lisa Leslie shows students how to calculate percentages.

For the Hippest Homework Happening, kids will be able to choose three celebrities and their related math problem for their homework assignment. When they're done, they can print out a certificate of completion to get credit from their teacher, who should pre-register online to sign up their class. Teachers also can send in completed student certificates for a chance to win computers for their classrooms!

"We also wanted to show our appreciation to America's math teachers by giving them a night off from grading and assigning homework," said Lucy Flynn, director of global marketing communications, Raytheon. "It's not just about engaging the kids, it's also about rewarding the teachers!"

Students and teachers can sign up for Hippest Homework Happening today on http://www.mathmovesu.com/ and celebrate Math Month throughout April by checking out the website's current celebrity challenges including other "kid- cool" careers that rely on math, like concert tour manager, fashion designer, video game creator, roller coaster innovator and ER doctor.

About MathMovesU

Launched in late 2005 by the Raytheon Company, MathMoveU is a unique project designed to "elevate math to cool" by combining middle school students' interest in celebrities with grant money, awards and a robust MATHCOUNTS curriculum to encourage excitement about math. The program reaches students at a time when studies(1) show performance declines in math and science, grades six through eight. Raytheon also supports MATHCOUNTS, a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program. You can learn more about MathMovesU and its sponsors by visiting http://www.mathmovesu.com/ , http://www.mathcounts.org/ , http://www.raytheon.com/ , and http://www.bhef.com/ .

  (1)  "A Commitment to America's Future:  Responding to the Crisis in
       Mathematics & Science Education," Business Higher Education Forum.
       January 2005.  Page 6.