Pilot enriched math and social studies classes in MCPS MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

[Anonymous]

My child says that in math, it's all about the peer group. They're able to move quickly through the material, b/c the kids understand it the first time.

The global humanities teacher explained they will be doing more work than the non-enriched sections.

Am glad that these classes are being offered. Agree that it's teacher/school dependent but am hoping they get better with time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I can tell you that TPMS IM magnet is not sitting around having "enriching discussions." They are working deeper into concepts in the curriculum and adding concepts to the curriculum. I have had 2 kids go through TPMS IM. Algebra and Geom add even more, digging into Alg 2 and Trig concepts. Also more set theory and functions.

That's a shame. They can be a really useful instructional tool -- and yes, for math too.

[Anonymous]

OT, but 33-36 kids in a MS classroom.

Why aren’t parents more outraged about this? Is there a movement to call for smaller class sizes?

My kids are still in ES, but that is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OT, but 33-36 kids in a MS classroom.

Why aren’t parents more outraged about this? Is there a movement to call for smaller class sizes?

My kids are still in ES, but that is ridiculous.

I'm pretty ticked off about the class size, but this is my first kid in 6th and not sure what the norm is. Can anyone weigh in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OT, but 33-36 kids in a MS classroom.

Why aren’t parents more outraged about this? Is there a movement to call for smaller class sizes?

My kids are still in ES, but that is ridiculous.

I'm pretty ticked off about the class size, but this is my first kid in 6th and not sure what the norm is. Can anyone weigh in?

Is this in bigger middle schools?

[Anonymous]

My child has about 30 kids in his class at SSIMS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

That sounds like more fun than the worksheets in regular IM but not particularly enriching in terms of content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

That sounds like more fun than the worksheets in regular IM but not particularly enriching in terms of content.

I would be sorely disappointed if this is what considered enrichment in middle school math.

[Anonymous]

It does seem like all students would benefit from doing this type of project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

That sounds like more fun than the worksheets in regular IM but not particularly enriching in terms of content.

I would be sorely disappointed if this is what considered enrichment in middle school math.

I as well. Here are some topics that would be very enriching if taught well:

- Number sense (Using commutative/associative/distributive properties to simplify expressions with a minimum of calculation).
- Number theory (divisibility tests, why they work, number sense and clever computations, remainders, prime number factorizations, prime number testing using sieves, proofs, e.g infinite # of primes, proof that sqrt(2) or other number is irrational, etc).
- Counting and Probability (permutations, combinations, actually showing why the formulas work, applying them to cleverly solve problems, probability, expected value, geometric probability, applications of counting, such as counting paths on a 2D grid, or on a 3D lattice)
- Logic and games (simple game theory, logic puzzles, parity problems such as even/odds and domino problems, combinations on a chessboard, simple invariant problems, counterfeit coin weighings, etc).
- Competition style problems, (Mathcounts, AMC8 contest problems, focus on solving problems in multiple ways).
- Problem solving strategies (finding patterns, clever trial and error, systematic casework, reduction to smaller examples, analogy to previously solved problems, etc.)

For the most advanced: Deeper dive into proofs, proof by contradiction, intro to induction, geometry visualization of cross sections, calculating funky areas in 2D, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

That sounds like more fun than the worksheets in regular IM but not particularly enriching in terms of content.

I would be sorely disappointed if this is what considered enrichment in middle school math.

The unit is on proportional relationships and percentages, what would you suggest as a group project? The other poster mentioned a taco truck which also seems to be an appropriate project.

My kid also had individual challenge questions on the same topic. My kid is bored by worksheets so I think this is good project to apply mathematical concept to real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

That sounds like more fun than the worksheets in regular IM but not particularly enriching in terms of content.

I would be sorely disappointed if this is what considered enrichment in middle school math.

The unit is on proportional relationships and percentages, what would you suggest as a group project? The other poster mentioned a taco truck which also seems to be an appropriate project.

My kid also had individual challenge questions on the same topic. My kid is bored by worksheets so I think this is good project to apply mathematical concept to real world.

Forget taco trucks (unless you want to eat them). Basically forget anything that tries too hard to make math "real world applicable", it will normally result in either making the math dull (e.g real world), or result in students wasting time not really doing much math (e.g spending time talking, drawing, measuring, etc. but not actually doing much conceptually). See my post just above yours for a list of great topics that would highly stimulating to advanced kids in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enriched Math - very little homework - just started doing projects. Projects look interesting so far. DC is engaged and enjoying it but still breezing through it (although not as much as he is breezing through non-enriched english and world studies, having missed the cut-off for world studies). That doesn't seem to be the case for many of the kids judging from the offers of retakes of quizzes and my child's (admittedly spotty) reports.

Can you give us some info about the projects? Thank you!

Ok - so a group project, and, admittedly, I haven't actually seen it - but it's buying a taco truck and figuring out what to sell, the prices, how to design it, etc.

My kid recently did a sales campaign (design, ads, pricing/discounts to move product in different scenarios, taxes, etc) on a product the group picked based on research.

That sounds like more fun than the worksheets in regular IM but not particularly enriching in terms of content.

I would be sorely disappointed if this is what considered enrichment in middle school math.

I as well. Here are some topics that would be very enriching if taught well:

- Number sense (Using commutative/associative/distributive properties to simplify expressions with a minimum of calculation).
- Number theory (divisibility tests, why they work, number sense and clever computations, remainders, prime number factorizations, prime number testing using sieves, proofs, e.g infinite # of primes, proof that sqrt(2) or other number is irrational, etc).
- Counting and Probability (permutations, combinations, actually showing why the formulas work, applying them to cleverly solve problems, probability, expected value, geometric probability, applications of counting, such as counting paths on a 2D grid, or on a 3D lattice)
- Logic and games (simple game theory, logic puzzles, parity problems such as even/odds and domino problems, combinations on a chessboard, simple invariant problems, counterfeit coin weighings, etc).
- Competition style problems, (Mathcounts, AMC8 contest problems, focus on solving problems in multiple ways).
- Problem solving strategies (finding patterns, clever trial and error, systematic casework, reduction to smaller examples, analogy to previously solved problems, etc.)

For the most advanced: Deeper dive into proofs, proof by contradiction, intro to induction, geometry visualization of cross sections, calculating funky areas in 2D, etc.)

The group project relates to the unit topic. Your lists makes sense BEYOND covering the unit topic.

[Anonymous]

Sure, of course. Except that the group projects our educators come up with will almost never really be mentally stimulating, unless they're cleverly designed to make kids think in a deeper way. Generally they are a lot of filler and makes it seem like kids are thinking deeply by applying what they learned, but when you examine the details, often the application portion is very basic.

The topics I posted are generally considered to be challenging and stimulating for advanced students at the middle school level (and some of the topics such as basic counting, number sense, basic number theory, and a few of the games can easily also be done at an elementary school level).