Here is something that parents (and non-parents) may be interested in:

http://gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=6&ArticleID=4743&TM=82754.38

People in the Russian community often complain about American education system.  Here is a good chance to make a difference:

 

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District wants input on new textbooks

By Heather Darenberg
Staff Writer

LAWRENCEVILLE - Proposed instructional materials for some Gwinnett County Public Schools mathematics and social studies classes will be available Monday for public review.

In October, school system staff, parents and community members can visit the Instructional Support Center in Suwanee or Lovin Elementary School in Lawrenceville to review the proposed materials, which include textbooks and related teacher resources, said Lisa Burleson, the district's director of instructional materials.

The input gathered from the review will be used when the district makes its proposal early next year to the Gwinnett County Board of Education for adoption of the materials, Burleson said.

"We really do welcome all community members, not just those with students in school," Burleson said.

Parents of students who will be using the materials in a few years are encouraged to participate in the review, because instructional materials are kept for about six years once they are adopted, she said.

The materials are also being used in a pilot program that ends in December, Burleson said.

Mathematics materials for kindergarten through seventh-graders and ninth-graders, social studies materials for kindergarten through fifth-graders, and Chinese and engineering materials for students at the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology will be on display.

All materials can be viewed 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 11 and 25 and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 20.

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What: Gwinnett County Public Schools instructional material review

When: The review takes place Monday through Oct. 31. Materials can be reviewed 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays Monday to Oct. 31, 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 11 and 25 and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 20.

Where: Instructional Support Center, Building 200 lobby, 437 Old Peachtree Road N.W., Suwanee or Lovin Elementary School, 1705 New Hope Road, Lawrenceville

 

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Sasha

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Work is a matter of taste. If you don't work you don't taste.

I actually stopped by the Instructional Support Center in Suwanee today on my way from work. 

I looked at High School textbooks.  Actually the selection was very narrow - only a collection of Math textbooks and few textbooks for elective courses. 

Among the electives there was a soft-cover book called "Introduction to Engineering".  It talked about the engineering profession, different disciplines, history of engineering, modern developments, work environments etc.  In my opinion it would be very useful for a teenager who is trying to pick a college major. 

Aparently math curriculum has changed quite a bit since I was in HS.  It appears that so called "Integrated Math" is in mode.  For those who don't know a typical "Integrated Math" textbook is a collection of topics from wide variety of math fields. Textbooks that I have seen managed to combine, in one section and sometimes even in one chapter topics from set theory to probability, and from quadratic equations to different coordinate systems to logarithms. 

Looking at the table of contents one would not know that it belongs to a math book.  Chapters have names like "Log Jam" (logarithmic scale), Ostiches are composed (topics from all over math), one chapter was ironically called "Will your child make it" (discussed topics from probability).  One chapter called "Prove It" discussed logic and concept of formal proofs.  Honestly, I liked it.  One "beef" I had with the way math is tought here in the USA is that students don't learn critical thinking, at least not to a degree we did back in the Soviet Union by studying geometry. 

Personally, I am not that comfortable with integrated math, but may be it is just because I was tought in a different way.  May be kids can learn the "integrated" way just as well.

 

 

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Sasha

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Work is a matter of taste. If you don't work you don't taste.

The new math curriculum is based on Japanese model. Some parents argue about effectiveness of this model.

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