Plus, journalism internship and conference
Find the circumference of a circle with a 10-foot radius. Use the formula C = p*d and use 3.14 for p.
Mr. Strong can cut through a log in 2 minutes and 23 seconds. If he can maintain that rate, how much time would it take him to cut a single log into five pieces?
Extra-credit questions like these greeted more than 200 students and parents who visited the cafeteria at Hazelwood Middle School for Math, MAP and More, a chance to prepare for the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests, which started the week of March 27.
Mathematics coordinator Cathy French and Hazelwood Middle School’s math department chair, Doug Dunker, greeted the audience. French spent about 15 minutes describing test expectations and pointed out that Hazelwood starts preparing its students for the MAP test as early as first grade.
Analyzing patterns is what math amounts to for first graders, French said. By second grade, students must explain how they achieved their answers. Third grade introduces charts – pie, bar and other sorts of graphs. Each successive grade uses what students learned in the year before as foundations for expanding their learning, she said.
Eighth grader Mike Williams jumped right into the questions while his father Tony and younger brother Phil watched.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Tony Williams said of the night’s event. “Kids need to know math.”
French said that the U.S. ranks 25th out of 30 nations which use the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMMS) test, in which students in various nations take the same proficiency tests.
“In the United States, our focus has been mainly on numbers and how to put them in operations (addition, subtraction, etc.),” French said. To improve our scores, our focus needs to change, she added. More emphasis needs to be put on algebra, geometry, measurement and data.
All of the MAP test questions come from the Grade Level Expectations, or GLEs, and French said the questions will be just as rigorous as before.
Across the room from the Williams, Katie Coates, Christopher Vries and Brianne Heisinger gathered around a table with their parents as the trio worked on the problems. Their parents agreed – the three students demonstrate “serious complaining” when the MAP test time nears.
“You get to see what the problems are going to look like,” Heisinger said about the pre-test event.
Math coordinator French allowed at least five minutes for the students to work on each problem before showing the correct answer and how to get it, which the students have to demonstrate in their own work.
“It helps me understand the problems a little bit more,” said Shaunice Cooper of the extra-credit questions.
