The U.S. News and World Report – Alexandra Pannoni
“Some teens just get numbers. Take, for example, the high schoolers who competed in the International Mathematical Olympiad this month. The U.S. team won the youth math competition for the first time in more than 20 years, The Washington Post reported last week. But many teens never reach the highest level of math in high school. The usual advanced math course sequence for American students is algebra I, geometry, algebra II, precalculus and ultimately, calculus. Only about 14 percent of public high school students complete calculus, according to a new federal report. “I wonder how many students have really experienced the pride of completing an interesting math problem from beginning to end and feeling excited about having done that,” says Bob Lochel, a math teacher at Hatboro-Horsham High School in Pennsylvania. “I think we need to be able to glean that for more students.” School might not be starting for several weeks in most communities, but now is a good time for high school math teachers to explore the following ideas that may help their teenage students start the year off right.”(more)