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A new vision for mathematics in high schools

Session 1
Mike Thayer — Summit High School, Summit, NJ

Mathematics has been put on its own island for too long: disconnected from its neighboring fields in economics, the sciences, music, and the visual and technical arts, and detached from its historical roots in both its teaching and its meaning. We need new thinking about what mathematics in the schools can and should be. In addition, the role of the mathematics teacher is changing, so one of the questions we'll explore is: should we be just "math teachers", or should we act more as resources, providing help in improving quantitative literacy in all fields? Another question we'll consider is: what would happen if we compressed the four-year high school mathematics curriculum into one year, and then students learned topics of interest more deeply in their remaining years? Come and talk about what's possible, what's impossible, and what is right.

Conversational Practice

I would love to build wikis with this group; one on the 100-hour-one-year course (what would it look like?), one addressing the "what happens after the first-year course?" question, and one on potentially new roles for mathematics teachers. These will be the focus questions and will be used in a modified focus/framing question exercise.

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Presenter Profiles

Mike Thayer
Mike Thayer
Summit Public Schools

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