Saskatoon teacher first Canadian to win prestigious math award

Rolling the dice has landed a Saskatoon math teacher a $25,000 prize.

Nat Banting, who teaches at Marion M. Graham Collegiate in Saskatoon, is the first Canadian to win the Rosenthal Prize for Innovation and Inspiration in Math Teaching. It’s awarded annually by the National Museum of Mathematics in New York.

Nat Banting teaching his award winning math lesson in Saskatoon. (Nat Banting)

Banting, who also trains future teachers in the department of curriculum studies at the University of Saskatchewan, was more than surprised when he heard the news he had won. “I was in disbelief,” said Banting. “I’m probably in that exact same state.”

The winning lesson plan uses dice to teach students about probability with an auction of potential outcomes.

“I nested not just what is the probability that a certain thing will happen on the dice, but I split them up into an auction,” said Banting. “So now, not only do they have to calculate those lower-level probabilities, they have to decide how their classmates and competitors view the likelihood of those events.”

Banting said the classes are usually full of high energy.

“There’s a difference between a noisy classroom and a classroom filled with mathematical noise,” said Banting. “That feels real when you pull it off and hit that sweet spot, I think that feels good for any teacher.”

Banting will formally get his award and money on Tuesday night in New York.