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Indiana Math Initiative to change way students learn numbers

Hundreds of math teachers throughout Lawrence Township and 12 other school districts are trying to change the way students learn math.

The Indiana Math Initiative is a collaborative effort between the school districts, Indiana University and the Indiana Education Network.

The program's goal is to expand teachers' knowledge of mathematical content, instruction methods and assessment tools recommended in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards for grade levels six through eight. These widely accepted standards require a different approach to learning, said Barbara Moore, director of the Indiana Education Network.

"In a nutshell, the initiative takes the focus off the standard practice of memorizing mathematical formulas to find answers and instead teaches students to learn the process of how to spot patterns and reason through problems," Moore said. "If they come to their own conclusions rather than just spouting back formulas, they will have greater retention and a deeper level of understanding."

It also helps students make more sense of complex mathematical concepts by putting them in a real-world context they can understand Moore said.

"The questions are designed as investigations rather than problems," she said. "Through this approach, students are being asked not only to get the right answer, but to tell how they got it and be able to defend their methods."

It's an initiative that has gained more and more support from Lawrence Township middle school math teachers according to District Coordinator Mick Keppler.

Twenty of the 27 math teachers attended introductory seminars he said. Four recently attended a weeklong summer workshop in Bloomington and most of them have met in bimonthly district level meetings to discuss their successes and failures and learn from each other.

The project is designed to let local districts sustain themselves," Keppler said. "School, classroom and direct gupport is provided by lead teachers and district coordinators, IMI staff and evaluators through feedback, coaching, discussion and joint analysis."

Keppler said many of the teachers have been integrating the materials a lesson at a time into their curricula and this fall some will start piloting initiative units in their classes.

One of those teachers is Stella Turner-Royal, a former eighth-grade math teacher at Fall Creek Valley Middle School. As an initiative teacher leader, Royal has been using the reform curriculum in her classroom since the program began in Lawrence Township three years ago. She said it has greatly improved her instruction.

"It's made all of us better teachers by giving us knowledge and resources we can use in our classes to get our students more involved in their learning," she said. "They are discovering more of the rules themselves rather just being told what to do."

Solving problems takes longer when the student has to write out methods, but Royal said the payback comes during the grading process.

"If they're just following a formula I can't always tell what they did wrong," she said "But if they have the numbers and a description, I can see just where they got confused and guide them."

The school needs this initiative to stay competitive with competing countries, Keppler said. He sited results from the Third International Math Study that showed that American students compared unfavorably with many other countries in math.

"Nationally, we do too much too quickly when it comes to math," he said "We need to promote proportional reasoning and connect concepts and skills to be competitive--IMI does this."

As the state mathematics textbook adoption year, this is a very important time for the Indiana Math Initiative program, Moore said. Districts throughout the state will be deciding which math textbooks to adopt for the next six years. Sixty percent of the decision-making group will consist of teachers, principals and administrators and the rest will be parents and other members of the community.

Keppler and other initiative supporters are strongly encouraging the adoption of reform curriculum that meets the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards.

"Enough of the Lawrence Township teachers have used these materials to see how superior they are." Moore said. "We hope the other decision-makers will see the value of these as well."

The initiative has been funded fo the next five years by a $2.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation," said Moore. But to continue funding the program after that, the foundation will require the district to adopt reform curriculum in favor of traditional math materials.

"Most parents may be hesitant to embrace reform curriculum because they are concerned with standardized tests and what will get their kids into college," said Moore, whose 12-year old daughter Brianna Jackson will be attending Craig Middle School next year. "I'm a parent too and I believe in it deeply."

"If we could share time with then explaining the concepts, I'm sure we could sway a lot of parents," she said. "These methods will give kids a deeper conceptual understanding of math but it may take awhile to convince some parents of their value."