All posts tagged "Mathematics"

On a Wednesday morning in May, a dozen students streamed into their geometry class at the Cindy Avitia High School. But instead of looking toward the blackboard, the 10th-graders opened up their laptops — and got ready to connect with a teacher nearly 3,000 miles away. Their class is one of 11 taught by a virtual teacher at the charter school, which is pulling in educators from Alaska, Maryland and Texas to address California’s teacher shortage. “I know it’s not ideal for our students — we all know that,” said Shara Hedge, the CEO of Alpha Public Schools, a charter network with four schools in......

SEATTLE — During a math lesson on dividing decimals at Hawthorne Elementary School, 11-year-old Imran Ali said the material didn't click for him until his fifth grade teacher taught it using felt blocks. It was easier, he said, to count out real-life objects instead of grappling with abstract numbers in his head. For 10-year-old Aliayah Smith, the lesson made sense when she worked out a word problem on paper. And Ryan Jackson, 10, said he understood the work better after his teacher showed the class a video explainer. These are all the ways Rachel Pitts teaches math lessons in her fifth grade ......

ST. LOUIS — Beneath the surface of rivers lurks a hazard that isn't well understood — but could wreak havoc on people and communities near the water. Changes in weather patterns may be unsettling river channels that have been historically sturdy, driving them toward two extremes: accelerated erosion or supercharged flooding. Now a scientist at St. Louis' Washington University is starting a new experiment that could anticipate — and perhaps even prevent — damage wrought by intense rainfall, an issue that has taken on increased urgency after a record-breaking downpour flooded St. Louis last week......

MIAMI — When the Florida Department of Education announced it was rejecting 54 math textbooks, it pointed to a “thorough review” process that found more than half of those books included “prohibited topics,” including critical race theory and social-emotional learning. A Miami Herald review of nearly 6,000 pages of textbook examinations, however, shows just three state reviewers — including a sophomore studying politics at a conservative college in Michigan — said four math books violated a state rule that prohibits the teaching of critical race theory. The state defines the theory as a concep......

Dozens of state reviewers found no evidence of “prohibited topics” like critical race theory and social-emotional learning in math textbooks, a partial review of nearly 6,000 pages of book examinations shows. However, a much smaller number of reviewers did find examples they disagreed with on those topics. The textbook examinations were part of a “thorough” review process that led the Florida Department of Education to reject 54 of 132 math textbooks proposed for use in public school classrooms over claims that publishers were attempting to “indoctrinate” students. The department later announc......

ORLANDO, Fla. — Only one reviewer who dug into the math books publishers hoped to sell to Florida schools complained there was “critical race theory” embedded in the texts, and she was a member of the conservative Moms for Liberty group who looked at just two high school books, according to state documents released late Thursday. Most of the other 70 reviewers found little to suggest the more than 130 textbooks for kindergarten-to-12th-grade classes strayed from their subjects or aimed to teach students about “critical race theory” and other prohibited topics, according to thousands of pages o......