Contemporary Mathematics in Context: CORE-Plus Mathematics Project

History Four-year secondary program published in 1998 by the Everyday Learning Corporation. The Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP) is a multi-year project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Each course is the product of four-year process of research, development, and evaluation involving over 35 high schools. A diverse group of students was represented in this process.

Philosophy Builds on the theme of mathematics as “sense-making” Provides a common core of broadly useful mathematics, not only to be successful in college, but also in daily life and careers

Design Four year curriculum –First 3 courses are designed for all students –4 th course is a more flexible program designed to prepare students for college mathematics

Design Each course advances students' mathematical understanding along interwoven strands of: –Algebra and Functions –Geometry and Trigonometry –Statistics and Probability –Discrete Mathematics Graphing calculators are used widely throughout the course

Design Courses 1-3 consist of seven units each with a capstone project at the end of each course. –Each unit has three to six multi-day lessons which develop ideas through student-centered investigations Course 4 has 10 units that permit tailoring of courses to various undergraduate programs.

Design

Lessons are organized in a four-phase cycle: –Launch (Think About This Situation) – Full- class discussion of a problem situation to get students thinking about task. (teacher is a director and moderator)

Design Lessons are organized in a four-phase cycle: 2.Explore (Investigation) – in small groups students investigate focused problems and questions related to launch activity creating their own understanding (teacher is a facilitator) Students have specific roles: a. Readerb. Recorder c. Quality Controllerd. Coordinator

Design Lessons are organized in a four-phase cycle: 3.Share and Summarize (Checkpoint) – groups share their findings with the class as they develop a class summary of the important ideas learned (teacher is a moderator) 4.Apply (On Your Own) – students are given a task related to the lesson to complete on their own. (teacher assesses individual student understanding)

Design  MORE: Out of Class Activities - Engage students in Modeling with Organizing, Reflecting on and Extending their mathematical understanding –Numerous problems are provided with each lesson

The Lesson…

How Does The Core Plus Program Match Up?

Project 2061 Project 2061 lists the Core Plus program as a textbook with the potential to help students learn. The Core Plus program only scored satisfactory on 12 out of the 21 the Project 2061 criterion categories.

2061’s Textbook Evaluation Identifying a sense of purpose:Fair- Satisfactory Building on students ideas about mathematics:Poor- Fair Engaging students in mathematics:Good Developing mathematical ideas:Satisfactory Promoting student thinking about math:Satisfactory Assessing student progress in mathematics:Satisfactory- Good

Core Plus Compared to Other Programs Ithaca NY, 2003 compared CPMP to Houghton Mifflin “Unified Mathematics” series with results gathered from the June 2003 Math A exam, before the revised scale.

Math A Results from June 2003

SAT Results Data from the 1997 SAT scores show that on average CPMP students average slightly higher than traditional students.

Student opinions. Student 1:Wow! This year's math was really different from last year! I begun to understand difficult ideas and methods, & they didn't seem as hard! I now have a stable foundation to base next years math on & I learned a little bit about every aspect of mathematics. Student 2:When I really think about it, no other math class could have taught me this stuff. We learn a lot about real life problems instead of just plain boring math. It keeps you more interested and wanting to learn. Also when you discover the answer, you feel good about knowing what to do.

Teacher Opinions Teacher 1:...mathematics becomes an important tool for solving many problems in real life situations and other disciplines. The role of mathematics in solving a variety of problems has made mathematics closer to students' lives so that for many students, mathematics is more interesting and challenging. Teacher 2:The modeling of mathematical concepts is great. The wide variety of topics helps students keep going when they would otherwise become bored or quit.

Teacher Resources CPMP provides three different workshops at different colleges for teachers and schools to come and learn more about CPMP and to gain a deeper understanding of the content. CPMP also provides on-site professional development. And for parents, there is a link on the website that informs them of the CPMP curriculum, gives homework help, test preparation, and deals with other concerns that parents may have.

Related websites. Core Plus home page Ithaca district report