Rice University School Mathematics Project

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This project will establish a working relationship between high/middle school mathematics teachers and university research mathematical scientists, in the Houston area, by establishing a research mentor/master teacher program. There will be intensive summer institutes and academic year programs taught by the master teachers, mathematical scientists and educators. The Houston Independent School District is the fifth largest school district in the nation with 60% of the students and 50% of the teachers from minority groups. The goals are to develop a school system/university model in which the participating teachers' mathematical scholarship and teaching strategies are enhanced and sustained by their interactions with research mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and mathematics educators. The mathematical content will include current topics in linear algebra, probability, statistics, numerical methods, number theory, algorithms, geometry, logic and computers. The impact of mathematics and computer science on contemporary science, technology and society will also be explored. The project will develop and publish pre-college level teaching units, videos of demonstration lessons and related material, and a mathematics newsletter. For three successive summers (1987,1988,1989), 48 teachers will participate on Rice University's campus in six intensive weeks of lecture/problem solving workshops, seminars, colloquia, group study, peer group presentations and preparation of secondary level teaching units. The instructors of the workshops will be six master high school teachers, who developed the content/teaching strategies with six mentor university mathematical researchers and educators during the Spring of 1987. At the start of the project, participants will be instructors who teach in a gifted/talented program. In the second and third phases, teachers of regular classes will also be selected. During the academic year there will be monthly workshops, seminars and a yearly conference on Rice University's campus. This project will be a high quality mathematical model for a long term school system/university researcher partnership to improve pre-college mathematical instruction.