Spotlight On...Math
November 4th, 2024
Dear Park Community,
This year, I’m committed to writing a series of letters that focus on the distinctive value of a Park education. This one will focus on math at Park. Mathematics is often viewed as a challenging subject, and the importance of it in a child’s education cannot be emphasized enough. Math education not only provides students with essential skills necessary for navigating daily life, it also influences their future educational and career opportunities and fosters critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. In order to maximize all of these outcomes, the Park math program provides a multifaceted approach, emphasizing cognitive development, academic success, and societal advancement.
Park’s Lower School uses the Singapore math method for Grades 1-4, although concepts are introduced as early as Kindergarten. The Singapore math method focuses on skill mastery, which is achieved through intentional sequencing of concepts. This means that students must master certain skills before they move on to the next lesson. This ensures both instructional individuation and insurance that students progress with the skills they will need for more advanced work. Some of the key features of the approach include the CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) progression, number bonds, bar modeling, and mental math. Instead of pushing through rote memorization, students learn to think mathematically and rely on the depth of knowledge gained in previous lessons.
In typical U.S. math programs, students are passively introduced to a modeled example, then solve problems that very closely follow that example, repeating all the same steps with different numbers. In Singapore math, students must think through concepts and apply them in new ways from the very start. Since they can’t rely on simple replication, students are pushed to greater engagement and broader thinking. Struggling through a challenge is core to the program’s concept of deep learning. In U.S. math programs, concepts and skills are more compartmentalized within and across grade levels than in Singapore math, where a strong sense of connectivity to and application from past learning is woven throughout. Singapore math not only helps students become more successful problem solvers, it helps them gain a sense of confidence and resourcefulness because it insists on conceptual depth within a framework of problem-solving resiliency. This naturally prepares students to excel in more advanced math.
Students in grade 3 using Jack-O-Lantern pebbles to kick off their multiplication unit.
Once Park students enter Middle School, the math department follows the CPM (College Preparatory Mathematics) curriculum for Grades 5-12. There are many similarities between Park’s mission and CPM’s, with CPM “envisioning a world where mathematics is viewed as intriguing and useful, and is appreciated by all; where powerful mathematical thinking is an essential, universal, and desirable trait; and where people are empowered by mathematical problem solving and reasoning to solve the world’s problems”. If you walk into Caitlin Littlefield’s 5th or 6th grade classroom during a math lesson on any given day, you may see the students working in groups at math centers. The students can choose which group to join and at the same time they are thoughtfully guided and coached to join a group where the work fits their place in the learning cycle. You might see them using chromebooks for their math lesson, reminding them that technology is a tool not a toy. Or, you might see her teaching a math lesson to the entire group. At the end of the class, you will see a Practice and Preparation (P&P) assignment assigned: this is an intentional homework assignment with three problems that reinforce a skill learned or reviewed in class. If you know something after three problems, you don’t need to do it 25 more times. The same holds true if you don’t know it after three problems. If that is the case, students go back and review again in class or during extra help hours after school.
Students in grade 5 converting between bases and re-writing a quantity in base three.
Math assessments in Grades 5-12 consist of mixed cumulative assessments at regular intervals. Teachers do not solely administer a math assessment at the end of a unit and then move on to the next topic, because math isn’t about just taking that big test once you finish a unit; it’s about knowing and learning topics and checking in all along the way. One of the advantages for students with an assessment model like this is that they should never be cramming and studying for the purpose of memorizing; taking assessments should be a natural and continual part of the learning process. They should feel confident and have little to no math anxiety. More than just number crunching, math at Park is a discipline that nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. As Mr. Fedirko, an Upper School math teacher, says, “Math at Park preps kids for the real world. Math is not just in a classroom; it is outside, and it is in every career, math-related or not. We are in the middle of an information revolution that is math driven - algorithms that are being introduced to us are all mathematical. We must have the mathematical literacy to prove if things are valid, which is why Park does it best”.
Our Upper School math courses primarily focus on the integration of concepts. Rather than students in Grades 9-12 taking Algebra 1, Geometry 1, or Trigonometry 1, common, sequential courses you may see in public or even other private schools, our students take Integrated 1, 2, or 3, where algebra, geometry, and trigonometry are studied at the same time. Along with these courses, Upper School students are able to take math electives, like Statistics, Calculus 1 and 2, or an independent study. We have a student currently taking Calculus 3, for instance. Park also offers dual-enrollment courses, which earn them college credit.
Students in Park’s dual enrollment Calculus I course studied the “flow of geometry” by preparing and baking cookies while measuring the rate of expansion and contraction of their dough under the assumptions of Standard Calculus. Their final results demonstrated the relationship between expanding cookie dough and shrinking pan size in addition to raising interesting questions about regions of growth.
We routinely encourage our students to share and teach their skills. Eli ‘25 has been engaged for two years with introducing Calculus to our younger learners through the flexibility of Park’s math program. He has created lessons and assessment tools and delivered this instruction not only at Park, but he has also helped arrange to teach these lessons at several charter schools. This is but one example of how our students are not limited to learning and using math inside the confines of one classroom.
Teaching math at Park is fundamentally about nurturing life-long problem solvers who develop resilience and confidence. By engaging our students in collaborative problem-solving experiences, Park teachers encourage them to embrace challenges and view obstacles as opportunities for growth. This approach fosters a mindset where taking risks is celebrated, helping students to learn from mistakes rather than fear them. Through real-world applications and creative thinking, students cultivate the skills necessary to navigate complex situations, equipping them not only with mathematical knowledge but also with the perseverance and self-assurance to tackle any challenge life presents. Ultimately, this holistic approach transforms math into a powerful tool for personal development and academic success.
