This year, math teachers had their teaching practices completely overhauled to adapt to a changing teaching environment and job market.
“It’s not new math; it’s the same curriculum, just taught a different way,” Math Department coordinator Lauren Reichman said. “What we’ve been doing is making the learning process more active for the students.”
The goal with the new curriculum is to adapt students to a changing technological reality and a new economy.
“I think that we have a responsibility as teachers to adapt to what’s happening in the world,” Reichman said. “And of course, we want our students to be able to think critically. But I want them to be able to use AI efficiently as well. However, they still need to be able to develop the skills that they need to actually do the math and be good consumers in the real world.”
The changes math teachers made were influenced by “Building Thinking Classrooms,” a book by Peter Liljedahl, Reichman said.
“When we read this book, we learned it was actually backed by a lot of research, and it showed that students do a lot better if they are thinking in the classroom and if they are standing up and doing the things,” Reichman said. “So just by putting students in random groups, by getting them standing and actually doing the math, instead of pretending that they’re doing the math sitting down, that made a change in the philosophy for us, and that has made a significant difference in the critical thinking of the students. I’ve seen a lot of students accomplish stuff that they would not have had.”
Reichman underscored the success of the first year of the program, saying, “In the PSAT alone, the math scores jumped significantly for juniors and sophomores, and those are the main classes that we’re focusing this effort on. So it was exciting to see that.”
