Newer new math

It's one of elementary education's basic truths: Two plus two will always equal four.

But the way students arrive at that answer is changing in the Jackson School District.

A new math curriculum, implemented this year in kindergarten through fifth grade, has turned traditional teaching methods upside down, and left teachers and parents amazed at what students can do.

Everyday Math, developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, sets out to make elementary students "lifelong mathematical thinkers" using research-based teaching techniques and hands-on activities.

School district officials hope the $34,000 investment will also improve scores on annual state assessments.

Instead of learning just one way to add, subtract, multiply or divide, students learn several methods in hopes of increasing their comprehension. Skills aren't just taught once during a school year, they're revisited and built upon throughout the year.

"Before, we spent several weeks learning one thing and then we moved on. Some kids got it, and some didn't," said Amy Smith, a teacher at North Elementary. "With this program, everything doesn't have to be mastered the first time it's taught."

Much of the Everyday Math curriculum is based on a concept called magnitude estimates. It's the first step in Everyday Math's problem-solving process, used to estimate the answer to a math problem before students actually begin solving the problem.

For example, when multiplying 14 by 17, students round each number to the nearest 10th and multiply to determine whether their actual answer will be in the 10s, 100s or 1,000s.

In this case, 10 multiplied by 20 equals 200, which tells students their answer will be in the 100s.

During a typical math lesson in Smith's fifth-grade class, students will jump to different skills and concepts every five or 10 minutes.

"It keeps them focused. After an hour of teaching one thing, kids aren't really paying attention," Smith said.

Thursday morning found Smith's class learning a new method of multiplication called partial product.

The process breaks down numbers with two or more digits to help students recognize place value and eliminates the need to "carry" any numbers.

After five years of being taught to think and look at math problems one way, opening up to different methods hasn't been easy for all of Smith's students.

"I like the old way, because this takes longer," said 10-year-old Nick Rangel. "But it's a lot funner this year with all the games we've learned."

When Smith's lessons are met with the occasional cry of "why do we have to do this?" from her students, she calmly explains the purpose of the new curriculum.

"Some students understand this the old way, but for the kids who struggle, this is a new way to solve problems," Smith said.

The new methods are a mystery to most parents. This has limited the amount of homework help students receive at home.

"If you don't know it from school, it's a bummer," said 11-year-old Cassey Propst, a student at North Elementary.

Schools do send home explanations of students' assignments so that parents aren't left feeling completely helpless, Smith said.

Parent Lisa Eddy said she's noticed her third- and fifth-grade children are learning new ways to put numbers together.

"My daughter came home on the second day of school and said, 'My teacher loves math,'" Eddy said. "I don't know if she got that because math is one of her teacher's strong points or if it was this new program, but it's definitely more involved."

The curriculum is so challenging that Orchard Drive Elementary teacher Donna Kielhofner took one look at it and said there was no way her first-graders could do it.

"I didn't think they could do this because we had never expected them to," Kielhofner said. "But they can."

Kielhofner's first-graders are already beginning to see glimpses of simple algebraic equations. They're learning to add using a number line instead of counting on their fingers.

Kielhofner has used a number line to count off the number of days students have been in school -- 43 as of Thursday.

Using the number line, students were asked to find numbers that add up to 43. Within seconds, they were shouting out, "25 and 18" and "20 and 23."

"This is hard for parents to grasp. Most of us learned there's only one way to add, and then their kids come home with this stuff," Kielhofner said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128