The mere thought of Math generates many reactions in people from excited anticipation to anxiety or even dread. The mathematics program at IDS Middle School is designed to demystify the world of mathematics. We appropriately challenge and support students in their discovery of themselves as mathematicians as they grow to appreciate math’s relevance in their world. Students are grouped by ability to fully benefit from each other’s observations and contributions. They work individually, in small groups, and as a whole class, exploring and applying concepts and making connections between the classroom and the real world beyond.
In Sixth and Seventh Grade general mathematics class, students strengthen and deepen their grasp of operations with real number systems, proportional relationships, two and three-dimensional geometry, statistical analysis and probability. They simultaneously begin a study of the pre-algebraic concepts of patterns, sequences, functions, and polynomials over the course of the two-year experience. Students in Eighth Grade Algebra I will use this general mathematics foundation as a launching pad for their journey to more advanced concepts that include systems of equations, linear equations, quadratics, polynomials, radicals, and more complex rational expressions.
Each class works from a text to guide it in meeting the needs of the 21st Century math student, but the class experience moves beyond the text, making connections with the worlds of literature, history, science, business, and the arts. Creative projects of independent exploration have written, oral and visual components. Students write about their math progress and discoveries, asking questions and making connections. They grapple with scale in recreating rooms from their houses in scale drawings or models. They analyze data, design their process, and collect and present their results. They research the lives and contributions of famous mathematicians. In this environment, students feel invested in their own learning—a wonderful trait that will serve them well in their further study of Math and every other subject.