VENTURA : Math Teacher Is Finalist for National Honor

If algebra terrifies, consider a talk on fractals.

Fractals are a mathematical phenomenon in which a pattern of irregular surfaces keeps repeating itself as it gets progressively smaller, said De Anza Middle School math teacher Robin DaPra.

Huh?

“It’s like the multiple images you see when you look at yourself using two mirrors,” DaPra offered.

Bingo. A ray of understanding. It is what DaPra does best, say students and teachers who know her: She takes a complex mathematical concept and applies it to real-life situations.

It is a talent that has not gone unnoticed. DaPra is one of 12 California finalists for a national award bestowed each year on elementary and secondary math and science educators by the White House.

DaPra was nominated for the award last year by the Ventura County Mathematics Council, a consortium of math teachers from schools throughout the county. The council named her teacher of the year for 1994, DaPra said.

She was named a state finalist, along with 11 others, out of 300 California teachers who were nominated, said state Department of Education spokeswoman Mary Lou Schmidt.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin will present DaPra and the other finalists with certificates of commendation at a reception scheduled for Friday in Sacramento.

The White House will announce the four California winners of the presidential award in the fall, Schmidt said.

Each winner will receive a $7,500 grant to improve the math or science programs in the recipient’s school, an all-expense-paid trip to attend honors ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and computers and other gifts, she said.

DaPra, 39, has been teaching for 10 years, four of them at De Anza.

DaPra said her goal in the classroom is to show students how applications of math are used in everyday life. For a lesson on statistics and probability, DaPra took her class to the Ventura County Fair.

There, each group played one game 10 times, charting their wins and losses. Back in the classroom, the students calculated their odds for winning based on their experience, DaPra said.

On another field trip, to a miniature golf course in Ventura, students used protractors, rulers and string to calculate the best angles for shooting par, she said.

“Getting the kids interested in math is half the battle,” DaPra said.

Vanessa Georgopoulos, 14, was one of about 35 students studying fractals in DaPra’s class Thursday. Vanessa, an eighth-grader, has taken math classes from DaPra since she came to De Anza in sixth grade.

“At first I didn’t like math,” Vanessa said. “I didn’t think I was good at it. But Mrs. DaPra told me to keep working at it and it would get easier. She’s right. I’m getting a B in this class.”