ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: HAMPTON
SOURCE: The Associated Press
In Yan Zhang's room, the trappings of a typical childhood mingle with the accessories of hard-core academia.
Cartoon ducks and mice adorn the bed sheets, but a NASA poster promoting microgravity research hangs on the wall. A Dr. Seuss ``Cat in the Hat'' book sits next to advanced mathematics texts on crammed bookshelves.
Yan, who just turned 10, is still a little boy with a little boy's tastes for video games, playing outside and watching cartoons. He also is one of the most gifted students in the country when it comes to math.
As a 9-year-old fifth-grader last year, Yan earned a 730 on the math portion of the national Scholastic Assessment Test. That's better than 97 percent of the students who took the test - and most of those students were in high school.
He didn't do quite as well on the SAT when he was an 8-year-old fourth-grader. That year, Yan scored a 720 on the test, better than 96 percent of the students who took it.
Last year, Yan earned the highest fifth-grade score in the country on the math portion of the PLUS Academic Abilities Assessment, an exam for talented fifth-and sixth-graders.
``I just sit in awe of him,'' said Tyrus Woodard, a teacher at Kecoughtan High School in Hampton who instructs Yan in math. ``He grasps mathematical concepts as well as anybody I've ever taught.''
Yan grasps those concepts so well that school officials put him in Woodard's precalculus class at Kecoughtan last year.
Each morning, Yan was bused to the high school for the class and then bused back to Phillips Elementary School for the rest of the day. He earned an ``A'' in the class and even tutored some of the other students, most of whom were juniors and seniors, Woodard said.
Yan also spent three weeks studying computers this summer at a Johns Hopkins University program for gifted children his age. There, he quickly established himself as a top student.
``He was definitely outstanding,'' said Jim Jungbauer, who taught Yan the Pascal programming language. ``He progressed through problems at an impressive pace. I had to keep giving him more complex problems.''
When he started school this month, Yan began spending part of his day studying calculus and physics at Kecoughtan and the rest of his day as a sixth-grader at Syms Middle School.
What comes next is unclear. Hampton schools won't have much more to teach Yan about math after the sixth grade, Woodard admitted, so he'll probably take a combination of high school and college courses.
``I don't really teach him now,'' Woodard said. ``I just give him ideas and he already knows how to explore them himself.''
Much of that exploration takes place in the small, immaculate downtown Hampton apartment Yan and his parents share.
Every day this summer, Yan worked with his mother, Yingwu Xin, on topics ranging from logic and math problems to writing Chinese characters. Xin, who taught college-level physics in China before the family moved to the United States in 1993, recently started teaching physics to Yan.
``At home, I must make a good environment for him to learn,'' Xin said. ``Sometimes I think we push him too much, but sometimes I think he plays too much.''
Yan's father, Long Zhe Zhang, also taught college-level physics in China. The family moved to the United States so Zhang could work on a doctorate in physics at Hampton University.
Yan barely spoke English when his family arrived here, but his scores on verbal tests have improved steadily.
Despite his academic success, Yan's parents leave him no room for arrogance. Their attitude: Yan is an accomplished student who must do better tomorrow than he did today.
``I'm very happy, but how you go on is what's important,'' Xin said. ``We're always thinking of how he can develop.''
Although Yan spends hours every day developing his skills in math, logic, Chinese and English, he also takes time to have fun with his friends.
He plays basketball or watches movies with children who live nearby, and he loves to play strategy-oriented video games on his Super Nintendo system.
He's been taking karate lessons for more than a year.
``It teaches you to walk away from enemies,'' Yan explained. ``It teaches you about controlling yourself and how to use your spirit, your inner self.''
Yan's not sure what he'll do after next year. He wants to go to Harvard University eventually and maybe become a writer. He also wants to learn more about math and computers.
But he recognizes that he's still just 10 years old, and he knows he has plenty of time to make those decisions.
``I might do some stuff with computer programming,'' he said. ``I don't know. I'll play it by ear.''
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Yan Zhang is one of the most gifted students in theby CNBcountry when it comes to math. color.