Nova Scotia Regional Center

Fall 2002

IMP Director, Lynne Alper, recently visited with several former IMP students in the town of Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. They had completed four years of IMP entirely in French and were anxious to share the list of Canadian colleges and universities where their classmates are enrolled.

Spring 2002

Through our five years of experience in supporting the Francophone and the French immersion schools implementing IMPacts Mathématiques IMP, we have learned that a focus on developing teachers who are knowledgeable in mathematics and pedagogy, while necessary, does not guarantee the successful implementation of a reform mathematics program. Issues such as ongoing professional development and support from school principals, counselors, parents, and the school community are all part of keeping reform alive.

The Department of Education in Nova Scotia, la Direction des Services Acadiens et de Langue Française, is continuing to support teachers of the French mathematics program to make sustainable improvements in mathematics education. Through inservices and summer institutes, teachers are learning ways to integrate technology tools, such as graphing calculators, CBL, CBR, and geometry and graphing software, with their mathematics lessons.

The alignment of IMPacts Mathématiques (for grades 9–12) to the French mathematics curriculum has raised our mathematics standards and is helping our students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitude about mathematics that contribute to a full and productive life.

Fall 2000

Nova Scotia French schools and the French immersion schools complete the implementation of Year 4 IMP, in September 2000. Parents, students, teachers and school administrators have found IMPacts Mathématiques very useful to develop a mathematics global culture and to provide an ideal preparation for the International Baccalaureate (IB) examination and certification program.

With the support of the Department of Education, la Direction des Services Acadiens et de Langue Francaise, French mathematics teachers have had very successful training workshops and summer institutes that began in August 1996 and lasted into April 2000. Participant reaction was enthusiastic and resulted in new bonding among teachers from varied schools across the province of Nova Scotia and the province of Prince-Edward-Island with a common interest in improving mathematics education. The IMPacts Mathématiques teachers would like to thank Dennis Cavaillé, IMP teacher-leader from San Lorenzo Valley High School, in Felton, California, for the effort that he gave by being their instructor during these four years of implementation of the IMP curriculum. At the end of March 2000, Antoine Jarjoura, mathematics consultant at the Department of Education and regional director of IMP, went to Boston for a training session conducted by Carla Oblas, from New England IMP, on the Pollster’s Dilemma unit and went back to Halifax to provide workshop trainings on this interesting statistics unit.

For next year and for a long-term success of IMPacts Mathématiques, our project is involved in the collection and analysis of student achievement data.

Spring 1999

IMPacts Mathématiques, the IMP French-language program, began in the 1996–97 school year with six francophone schools and five French immersion schools. As the 1997–98 school year begins, the use of IMPacts Mathématiques as a resource for our new mathematics program has expanded to most grade nine francophone and French immersion schools.

Due to the commitment and dedication of our IMP Year 1 teachers, administrators, and the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation (FEPA) last year, nine new high schools served for the 1997–98 school year as pilot schools of IMP Year 2.

With the help of Dennis Cavaillé, a French speaking mathematics teacher from California, we have been able to offer our IMP teachers two, one-week summer institutes (August, 1996, and August, 1997) and two, three-day workshops. Also, the Director of IMPacts Mathématiques, Antoine Jarjoura, visits the schools on a monthly basis in order to meet with the project teachers and offer them support.

Fall 1999

Nova Scotia French mathematics teachers had a very successful summer at the IMP Year 4 training Institute. Dennis Cavaille, IMP teacher-leader from San Lorenzo Valley High School in Felton, California, was the instructor. Attendees included Christine Deveau of l'ecole secondaire de Clare; Kenneith Pothier and Thomas Boudreau of l'ecole Sainte-Anne-du-Ruisseau; Cyril Camus of l'ecole NDA; Michel Gagnon of l'ecole du Carrefour du Grand Havre; Elie Saab and Georges Saba of Sir John A. Macdonald High School; Maureen Finlynson of Halifax Regional school Board; and Alvin Gallant and Julie Gauthier from Prince Edward Island French Schools.

The agenda of our summer institute included the following topics: the IMPacts MathématiquesYear 4 and its correspondence, with the specific outcomes of the FEPA Mathematics Curriculum and the High Dive, As the Cube Turns, and The World of Functions units.

"My students will bring to the calculus classroom a clear notion of functions and a conceptual understanding of rates of change and the derivative," Cyril Camus says. Julie Gauthier tells Dennis Cavaille and Antoine Jarjoura, the Regional Director of IMP, "Our students will arrive at universities believing that mathematics requires deep thinking. From their experiences, they will be confident in their own ability to think mathematically, and they will have excellent strategies to solve real-life problems and communicate results appropriately."

Workshops during the coming school year include fall and winter sessions on Know How and The Pollster's Dilemma units and a second cycle of professional development for new IMP teachers.

In Nova Scotia's Fracophone and French Immersion schools, the interest in IMP is growing, and the Ministere de l'Education, Direction des Services Acadiens et de Langue Francaise, continues to conduct productive professional-development sessions, providing an opportunity for all French mathematics teachers to become familiar with the IMP units and associated technology.

Fall 1998

During the last two years, students in Nova Scotia of Francophone and French immersion schools have been introduced to IMP (IMPacts Mathématiques). French education programs have taken a leadership role in its introduction and are now beginning the third year of IMP. The implementation of IMP Year 1 and Year 2 was completed successfully. "It has been an exciting experience for me, as a teacher, to be part of this implementation," said Margie Comeau, a French immersion teacher from Halifax. "Grade 9 and 10 students and teachers found IMP interesting and less boring than the traditional mathematics curriculum. Students learned a great deal of mathematics. They gained confidence in problem solving and gradually looked forward to doing hebdos (POWS) and a portfolio. It was a motivating experience for both students and teachers."

Interest in IMP is growing. In September, 1998, a group of new teachers will start IMP Year 3. The Department of Education and Culture (Direction des Services Acadiens et de Langue Francaise) continues to conduct productive professional development sessions in the spring, summer, and fall, providing an opportunity for all teachers to became familiar with each IMP unit, the graphing calculator, and to network and discuss common issues.

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