Ask kids how they feel about math, and many will tell you they aren’t good at it, as if there is a “math gene” that they just weren’t born with.



Yes, fun! So when Wilcox, an associate professor and chairwoman of the education department at Wesleyan College in Macon, goes to her kids’ school, she often wears a wizard costume and answers to the name “Professor Zero.” In costume, she immediately captures the students’ attention and proceeds to teach them math concepts in an easy, sometimes even silly way.

The stress of math drills and worksheets melts away and the kids start truly paying attention. Wilcox says the children get so caught up in the Professor Zero show, even those most afflicted by math phobia start participating and answering questions.

“I want to instill in children that math is not scary,” Wilcox says. “If you work hard, you can get it.”

Wilcox’s involvement at Thomas G. Scott Elementary started in 2008 when her children began attending school. At first, she volunteered to present a few math lessons to parents to help them guide their children with homework. She also provided math lesson plans to teachers and even co-taught some math classes.

More recently, Wilcox worked with the PTO to run family math nights.

So far, there is anecdotal as well as statistical evidence that kids have made strides in math as a result of Professor Zero’s efforts. Wilcox says she and a group of teachers randomly selected 30 5th graders and tested them before and after the Professor Zero training. Prior to the lessons, none of the students scored above 50 percent on an assessment of algebra concepts. After the lessons, all 30 passed the assessment with a score of 70 percent or higher, Wilcox says.