Vermont Regional Center

Spring 2004

IMP lays the groundwork for students to unfold, and blossom as mathematicians. Here is proof. The following are quotes from my students. They seem to capture the spirit of learning.

“I learned that you need to think beyond your thinking skills sometimes if you want your answers to be correct.”

“How many zeros does infinity have, if a million has six?”

“You mean chi squared is a measure for weirdness?”

As I teach, when a student says something that glistens with a mathematical flavor, I write it down on a special board. Students throughout the year make reference to their classmates’ quotes. I realized this year that even after a quote had been erased for months, students still remembered it!

Here is my “infinite decimal war story.” In the Alice unit, when students are asked to figure out to the hundredths place the amount of cake Alice had to eat to get to Pluto, my students in each class had a healthy competition to find the exponent to as many places as they could. The next day in class, we pushed the log button on our calculators. I expected my students to be relieved that this button could be such a tool. One of my students said, “Yeah, but it’s not as much fun!” What more could a teacher ask for? This is heaven.

Spring 2003

In the best tradition of interactive mathematics team work and problem solving, each student at Brattleboro Union High School, Brattleboro, Vermont, who completes the High Dive unit problem receives a T-shirt celebrating the event. The diver’s position is on the front of the shirt and the cart’s position is on the back—all done by iron-on computer transfer. The sleeve identifies the class that solved the problem. This past semester, the T-shirt had a new look: a special graphic created by IMP student Dan Allen, Class of 2003. Dan’s mathematical skills, as well as his artistic talent, have been a welcome addition throughout his IMP career. We hope this success will follow him as he heads off to the University of Vermont next year.

Fall 2002

Patty Heather-Lea finds her students relate their activities to IMP. “Two years ago some of my IMP 3 students were also members of a special class that visited Washington D.C. as part of their weeklong intensive experience. They took a photo of the Arlington Cemetery. When they returned, they gave it to me. They realized that what they saw was similar to the Orchard Hideout unit question. I was pleased that my students were making connections wherever they traveled, even in the midst of much emotional reflection.

“Some of my students also traveled and worked with the Habitat for Humanity program. They came back with a twinkle in their hearts and minds, that they had used the Pythagorean Theorem and helped another community at the same time! ...Each of my IMP 3 students is ‘standing’ on one square foot tile...an experience in Small World, Isn't It? What a treasure it is to be involved with such joyful curriculum and emerging mathematicians.”

Regional Center News Index