A small class of 10 students sits patiently and attentively as two classmates present a problem up on the board, trying to teach the rest of the class about Taxicab geometry. This is the Human Math Experience class, a course newly introduced this year.
The students who are enrolled in the experimental senior math class are responding positively to the material and the structure of the class, according to math teacher Betty Strong.
“One of our goals was to offer them a bigger look at what math is outside of high school, and it seems to be definitely accomplishing that goal,” Strong said. “Everyone seems really positive about it.”
According to the class syllabus, the course includes powerpoint lectures, videos, field trips, guest speakers for units like problem solving and modeling, blog entries and investigations.
“We get to try things we wouldn’t normally do. Because there is no curriculum, it is flexible,” said Ian Quillen, a student in the class.
One key difference between HME and other mainstream math classes is that teachers assign projects and papers rather than tests and quizzes to assess the students’ mastery of the topics, according to Mathematics Curriculum Coordinator Joshua Paris.
Anna Shneyderman, another student, said Human Math Experience is as hard as you make it to be. There is daily homework, but the workload is not overwhelming.
Ian Quillen agrees with Shneyderman.
“Sometimes it involves reading stuff, posting on a topic, but it is not long,” Quillen said. “I’d say it takes an hour or under per night.”
Students already took their first field trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art where they looked at the exhibit about infinity and time that ties into a later unit, according to Strong.
“It was really fun to see the exhibit and be able to try things that normally wouldn’t be done in a [mainstream] class,” Quillen said.
Strong said some students signed up for the class because they wanted to experience a non-traditional math class their senior year. The class is relaxed and allows the students to see what is going well in the class and what isn’t, according to Shneyderman. It also provides a preview of college math.
“We came to the realization that students had misconceptions of what mathematics in college was all about,” Paris said. “So we created this course partly to address that issue and to show students a sampling of some of the topics that they can study at the university level.”
The 10 students come from all levels of math. Some took advanced math, some took standard and some are even taking another math class in conjunction to this unleveled course this year.
“I don’t love math as an application, but I love some parts of it,” Shneyderman said. “I think really anyone would love taking this class.”
