I would highly recommend [especially for that age group] The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It's a somewhat-illustrated novel about a kid who dreams of a number devil who teaches him math while he sleeps. The math he learns there helps him do math quickly in his incredibly dull and boring math class, shocking the obviously-unenthusiastic teacher as well as his fellow classmates. The student who was once bored to tears by math suddenly finds joy in the patterns that exist there... As I recall it's mostly basic algebra and geometry. I didn't end up reading it until well after I'd taken the classes [I picked it up because it looked amusing, I've always had a love for math and it seemed like it was related to comic books but more novely, generally a light read]. I'm not sure how well a student who's not already interested in math would respond to it, but I certainly think it'd be worth checking out.
Also, I must point out that Star Trek is wonderful and delicious.
Slashdot Mirror
Sounds like they'll be catching them red-handed.
I would highly recommend [especially for that age group] The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It's a somewhat-illustrated novel about a kid who dreams of a number devil who teaches him math while he sleeps. The math he learns there helps him do math quickly in his incredibly dull and boring math class, shocking the obviously-unenthusiastic teacher as well as his fellow classmates. The student who was once bored to tears by math suddenly finds joy in the patterns that exist there... As I recall it's mostly basic algebra and geometry. I didn't end up reading it until well after I'd taken the classes [I picked it up because it looked amusing, I've always had a love for math and it seemed like it was related to comic books but more novely, generally a light read]. I'm not sure how well a student who's not already interested in math would respond to it, but I certainly think it'd be worth checking out. Also, I must point out that Star Trek is wonderful and delicious.