Transitional math in the classroom
Author: Kathleen Almy
The idea of bringing a college math class to a high school senior is not new, even with remedial courses. Many a high school offers intermediate algebra from their local community college, often with the same pacing, book, and results.
When implemented fully, transitional math does not replicate a college developmental math class. Its goal is to bridge the gap from the first three years of high school math to college readiness. Many students achieve college readiness in high school and take upper-level math their senior year like precalculus, AP calculus, and AP statistics. But a significant number of students aren’t ready for those courses or they are ready but have no interest in taking them.
“Transitional math addresses the need for another fourth-year option, provides a way for a student to gain placement into a college-level math class, and helps a student improve their college readiness. ”
Transitional math addresses the need for another fourth-year option, provides a way for a student to gain placement into a college-level math class, and helps a student improve their college readiness. Can you do all of that with intermediate algebra? No. You can accomplish some things, but the content being so traditional and focused on algebraic manipulations doesn’t lead to a great amount of college readiness.
So, what can we do different with these students in the classroom to ensure a better experience and a gap to be bridged? The main choice is the use of contextualized curriculum and problem solving. Not this kind of problem solving:
A train leaves a station at 9 am and is traveling at 55 mph. Another train leaves the same station at 9:30 am and is traveling at 65 mph. Will the second train catch the first? If so, when?
But instead, this kind of problem solving:
A student in an entrepreneurial class has the chance to pitch to a group of local investors, like Shark Tank. The student asks for $10,000, which is 25% of his company’s worth. An investor counters with $9,000 for 30% of the company. How much is the investor valuing the company? Should the student take the deal or counter back?
Using contexts that appeal to students and particularly ones that align with their career path is inherently motivating (usually). Giving them problems that don’t have a pat set of rules to follow and instead require thinking differently can engage a student who may not usually engage in an algebra class. Can algebra be in the mix? Absolutely and it should. When I teach problems like this, I will discuss numeric approaches as well as algebraic ones. The psychology is interesting. If you don’t require someone to use algebra, they are more likely to consider it. When you say, “you must write an equation or you won’t receive full credit,” many students balk just for being told what to do. Really, we can all be guilty of that.
We will look more into this type of curriculum and pedagogy in future blogs as well as professional development that will be provided.
Are you interested in using contextualized curriculum but don’t know where to start? Check out Math Lit, the curriculum I wrote for colleges to serve non-STEM developmental students. It is also used frequently by high schools for transitional math courses. Pearson has created high school-specific pricing to support schools in and out of Illinois.
Next month: We will begin to look at what it takes to implement transitional math.
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