ROGERS — Middle school students in some Rogers classrooms this year are learning math in a different way than their peers and predecessors.
School officials said the method, which will hopefully help students keep up with changing test standards, could eventually become the norm.
Instead of memorizing calculations and formulas, the students start out by tackling new problems in whatever way they think best. Then they discuss with the class how they approached the problems, what worked and what didn't.
AT A GLANCE
Problem Solving
Krista Webb, a teacher at Elmwood Middle School, described the difference between how she used to teach a percentage problem and how she’s teaching it this year.
The problem is to calculate 15 percent of 200. Webb said in years past she’d teach the students to turn 15 percent into 0.15, then multiply by 200.
Now, her students start by solving the problem however they can. Some might draw pictures. Others might break the problem down into smaller steps, perhaps calculating 15 percent of 100, then multiplying by two.
Source: Staff Report
"That helps those students who are not quite getting it," said Krista Webb, an Elmwood Middle School math teacher who is being trained in the new teaching method. "It's bridging the gap between those students who can and the students who think they can't."
The method is called thinking mathematically. Its goal is to help students understand the concepts of how math works, educators said.
It is similar to cognitively guided instruction, a method for teaching math that is common in local elementary schools.
Thinking mathematically is in a pilot program in the district this year, with help from the University of Arkansas, said Phil Eickstaedt, the district's director of secondary curriculum and instruction.
So far, the response is good, Eickstaedt said. He said the district will probably roll out the method in all of its sixth- and seventh-grade math classes over the next three years.
The method is picking up steam in schools around the state, said Cathy Jones, a math specialist for the STEM Center for Math and Science Education at the University of Arkansas.
"It is the kind of learning that students need," she said. "It's kind of the new wave."
Eickstaedt said the district did not yet have data on how effective the program was.
Gina Kell, a math facilitator at Elmwood, campaigned to start using the method in local schools. She said it will fit in well with changes to state math tests, set to be implemented in 2014.
The tests will place an emphasis on understanding mathematical concepts, not just being able to solve problems, she said.
Students in Webb's classroom were working on percentage problems Thursday morning.
Some of them calculated percentages in the traditional way, multiplying numbers by decimals. Others used diagrams of ice cream cones to visualize the problem.
Quinton Heese, 12, is one of Webb's students. He said he's been taught math using many different methods in the several schools he's attended.
He said students in Webb's class often learn different ways to approach problems.
"It's very peculiar, but I like it," he said.
Grace Starek, 11, is another of Webb's students. She said she likes that students have to explain their problem solving strategies to the rest of the class.
"It actually helps a lot, because sometimes your peers can be your best teachers," she said.