Related Links

Other NSF-Sponsored Standards-based Mathematics Curricula Projects

The five year IMPACT Project strives to accelerate the implementation of standards-based instructional materials throughout New England. The Center for the Enhancement of Science and Mathematics Education, CESAME, will use the experience gained with its Statewide Implementation Program to inform this scaled-up regional effort. CESAME acknowledges that the decision to use standards-based materials occurs at the local level. IMPACT's plan, therefore, builds on existing regional structures to provide the information, resources and support for districts and their teachers in this next step in educational reform.

Integrated Mathematics, Science, and Technology is a two-year middle school program designed to be taught by seventh and eighth grade teachers from each of the three disciplines. The seventh grade program includes four modules in the bio-related technologies and modules related to manufacturing and forecasting. The eighth grade program includes four modules entitled Animal Habitats, Human Settlements, Systems, and Communication Systems. Although there are separate activities for mathematics, science, and technology (M/S/T), the activities focus on the same key concepts and are coordinated so that the students readily see the relationships among the disciplines.

Math Alive! is a comprehensive, four-year curriculum being developed for grades 5-8 by The Math Learning Center with support from the National Science Foundation. In each of four courses, students explore topics from geometry, measurement, algebra, probability, statistics, numeration, number theory, computation, and estimation. Mathematical ideas resurface regularly. Technology is used appropriately. Three courses are completed, Visual Mathematics I & II and Math Alive! III. Math Alive! IV is in progress. All courses will be subsequently titled Math Alive!. A Math Alive! classroom draws its energy from student-driven exploration. Models and manipulatives provide the context for explorations of complex problems involving important mathematical relationships. Group discussions and projects create a community in which each member's ideas are valued and respected. In this community of mathematicians, students enjoy a growing ability to construct their own understanding and to communicate their reasoning.

PRIME, the Pittsburgh Reform in Mathematics Education project, is part of Pittsburgh Public Schools' broad systemic initiative to implement standards-based instruction. PRIME works to support teachers in their implementation of standards-based mathematics instruction and assessment, and promotes the attainment of a broad knowledge base in both mathematics content and successful mathematics pedagogy needed to understand and successfully implement these new materials.

ESCOT (http://www.escot.org) is a National Science Foundation research project initiated by SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning. We are investigating how software innovations can accumulate, integrate, and scale up to meet the needs of systemic reform of K-12 mathematics and science education. Our goal is not a single software product, but an understanding of how "integration teams" comprised of developers, authors, teachers, web facilitators, and others could compose lessons by combining graphs, tables, simulations, algebra systems, notebooks and other tools available from a shared library of reusable components.

Problems with a Point (http://www2.edc.org/MathProblems/) was developed at the request of numerous teachers for math practice problems tied to standards-based curricula. The website provides extensive practice and locates it in the broader context of mathematical patterns and ideas. Mere practice, says the Project Director Paul Goldenberg, "takes knowledge the kids already have and asks them to do it better;" Problems with a Point engages them in understanding the logic behind a solution, and how to solve related problems. The problems on the site vary in terms of difficulty, time involved, technology necessary, math topic, and "habits of mind" or mathematical ways of thinking. A sophisticated search feature allows users to select problems precisely by successively narrowing criteria.

Texas Instruments provides middle grades teachers a range of calculator activities for mathematics (http://www.ti.com/calc/docs/activities.htm), the T.I.M.E. newsletter for K-8 teachers (http://www.ti.com/calc/docs/time.htm), and other resources at their calculator home page (http://www.ti.com/calc/docs/calchome.htm).

Math Forum	http://forum.swarthmore.edu/
--- Middle School Teachers Place	http://forum.swarthmore.edu/teachers/middle/
--- Middle School Problem of the Week	http://forum.swarthmore.edu/midpow/
--- Ask Dr. Math	http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/
--- Middle School Student Center	http://forum.swarthmore.edu/students/middle/
--- Middle Level Math Internet Resources	http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~steve/steve/mathmid.html
Eisenhower National Clearing House for Math and Science Education	http://www.enc.org
--- Reform in Action	http://www.enc.org/classroom/index.htm
--- Ideas for Reform	http://www.enc.org/reform/index.htm
MiddleWeb: Exploring Middle School Reform	http://www.middleweb.com/
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics	http://www.nctm.org/index.html
National Science Foundation: Education and Human Resources	http://www.nsf.gov/home/ehr/start.htm
Learning First Alliance	http://www.learningfirst.org/
Math Lab	http://www.sri.com/policy/ctl/html/mathlab.html
TinkerPlots	http://www.umass.edu/srri/serg/tpmain.html