Reply to Algebra 2 HN and Algebra 2 differences

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I wrote a handout on this for our curriculum night. I can copy the text of it tomorrow when I’m back at my desk. That said, it will vary significantly by the school and teachers.

In short at my school: honors moves significantly faster and requires students to go beyond what is explicitly shown in class. For example:

Regular A2 will be shown various types of polynomials and how to factor them. The test will be an assortment of polynomials and students will be asked to factor them. A2H will get the same instruction, but then will be given something like 4x^3-2x^2-kx+1 and asked to find a value of k that makes it factor able with using the grouping method.

It also includes at least one or two extra standards/skills per unit. In my regular A2 class, I have time to spend a day reviewing prerequisite skills. In honors, students need to already have mastered (and retained) all the material from prior coursework, because the review days are taken up with extension topics. For example:

Both classes solved systems of quadratic equations. An algebra 1 standard is systems of linear equations. In A2 I spent time (maybe 1/2 block) reviewing simplistic systems that didn’t require much manipulation (terms dropped out easily) before shifting into more difficult examples with new content. After we covered all 3 methods with quadratics, I had a full day devoted to practicing all methods. In honors, we spent a 5 minute warm up reviewing what a system is, and then dove right into the new stuff, because in addition to quadratics we had to cover systems where x is a function of y (sideways parabolas), and all graphing and solving was expected to be done by hand. In gen ed, students were able to use calculators to graph equations and find intersections to check work or find ordered pairs for graphing.

If you are in an AP school, both classes are a stepping stone to precalc. You can think of gen ed as the AB version of calc and honors as BC. 75% of the class is the same, but that extra 25% really increases the pace for honors.

If you are at an IB school, a successful gen ed algebra 2 student will struggle with the rigor expected in IB analysis, but should be fine with IB applications. If analysis is desired, I would make the jump to honors.[/quote]

This is a great explanation. Do you recommend IB App to someone interested in engineering or do they have to take Analysis? We're at an IB school. [/quote]

Analysis, 100%. Applications is a great class but for someone who wants to major in a math heavy field, you will get 0 relevant credit for it in college, even high scores in HL. (SL spends maybe 2 weeks on calculus, it’s more of a precalc/stats class). Analysis is much better preparation for the math courses required in college. Doing well can give calc credit or an extremely strong foundation if you choose to retake anyway.[/quote]

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