Project 6-16 Co-Coordinator Sue Phelps, standing at far
left, talks with area math educators during a recent
meeting
on the Dalton State campus. Project 6-16 is a mathematics
community which seeks to provide
support and resources for
math educators in the area.
Substantive changes have been taking place in the field of math
education, especially since the Georgia Performance Standards
for Mathematics were implemented during the 2005-2006 school
year.
While different grade levels have adopted the new curriculum on
graduated time tables, students currently enrolled in first
through ninth grades are now being taught using the new
standards.
So a group of area middle grade, high school, and Dalton State
College math educators have formed Project 6-16, a mathematics
community which seeks to provide support and resources for math
educators in the area.
“Much of the content and the way it is to be delivered under the
Georgia Performance Standards is new to math teachers at almost
every grade level,” says Sally Burran, a former math teacher and
Co-Coordinator of Project 6-16.
“This curriculum veers away from the traditional way of teaching
math where a student might memorize a particular formula and use
it over and over again to answer similar questions.
“Instead, it relies more on situational reasoning to see if the
student can find the answer by applying the right mathematical
principle. The new curriculum contains wonderful opportunities
to teach students how mathematics can be applied in real-life
situations.”
Burran and Co-Coordinator Sue Phelps, also a former math
teacher, came up with the idea to form the group when they began
getting feedback from mathematics teachers in elementary,
middle, and high school classrooms who were unaware of how
teachers of differing grade levels were teaching the material.
“It became pretty obvious that math teachers in the middle
grades and the high schools would benefit from knowing what math
teachers in the other grade levels were teaching,” Phelps says.
Project 6-16 was formed to meet that need last year, and is
comprised of around 10 Dalton State faculty members and 16 math
teachers representing the school systems in Catoosa, Gordon,
Walker, and Whitfield Counties and the Dalton Public Schools.
Supported by funding from Mohawk Industries Foundation, Project
6-16 held a meeting recently on the Dalton State campus to share
teaching strategies for various grade levels.
“There has been a lot of good conversation coming out of these
meetings,” says Burran, noting that the high school teachers are
very interested in knowing what skill sets should be emphasized
to prepare students for college without needing to remediate.
Burran and Phelps expect that members of Project 6-16 will meet
regularly to share creative ideas and teaching solutions and
both expressed gratitude for community and industry support.
“Mohawk recognizes the positive implications an area mathematics
community can have in the business world,” Phelps says. “We are
grateful for their support for this project.”
|
