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Why did the Dubuque Community School District choose the Math Trailblazers Curriculum?

Traditionally, American students have done well on paper and pencil calculations. However, they have been unable to extend these skills and use them in problems in which they must think flexibly, reason, and make connections to the real world. (NAEP, National Assessment of Educational Progress and TIMSS, Third International Math and Science Study)

Also, the world is becoming more global. For every 1 student that graduates from college in the United States, 6 graduate in China and India. We used to say, “Clean your plate, there are starving children in China who would love to have that food.” However, now, “Graduate from college, there are children in China and India that would love to take your job!” is much more the case. Manufacturing and customer service jobs are going over seas. How often do you call an 800 number and end up talking to someone in India? Simple memorized algorithms and calculations are not enough to compete in a global world.

Elementary mathematics needs to teach students to problem solve, reason mathematically, represent mathematical ideas in a variety of ways, communicate mathematically, and make connections to other mathematical ideas as well as to the real world.

Algebra is the gatekeeper to higher learning. It is important for elementary mathematics to lay the foundation for success in high school. If students memorize the algorithm for division without truly understanding division, how will they divide polynomials? If students can’t apply the distributive, communative, and associative properties to numbers, how will they be able to do that in Algebra with variables?

-Chris Nugent
Math Curriculum Director
Dubuque Community School District

Click Here To See District Math
Data for the last eight years

Overview

Math Trailblazers is a complete, research-based, NSF-funded, K-5 mathematics program integrating math, science, and language arts. Math Trailblazers embodies the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and is based on the ideas that mathematics is best learned by solving problems in real-world contexts and that a curriculum should balance conceptual understanding and procedural skill.

A curriculum for your children

The mathematics curriculum being taught in many schools today is very similar to the curriculum that was taught when the parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents of today's school children attended school. Many of the math skills in that curriculum remain important today. But the world has changed considerably since the time of our grandparents. Advances in technology have created many other essential math skills that your children will need when they complete their formal schooling and enter tomorrow's work force. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recognized these needs when, in 1989, it made a series of recommendations for updating math instruction in U.S. schools.
Math Trailblazers was developed to reflect these national recommendations.

Math Trailblazers will prepare students to:

know and apply basic math skills;
solve problems using many different strategies;
be independent thinkers;
reason skillfully in diverse situations;
effectively communicate solutions to problems and methods for solving them;
work alone and in groups to solve problems.

Math Trailblazers was developed and tested over a six-year period by a team from the Teaching Integrated Mathematics and Science (TIMS) Project at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Using the results of educational research and over 15 years of previous experience in curriculum development, the TIMS Project has written an innovative program that will prepare your children with math skills needed for the 21st century.

-www.mymathtrailblazers.com

Math Trailblazers is a comprehensive curriculum that maintains a balance between the development of math concepts and basic skills. Students apply basic math skills while working on meaningful and challenging tasks. The math content of the traditional math curriculum is studied; but other topics (estimation, geometry, measurement, patterns and relationships, algebra concepts, and statistics and probability) are investigated at an appropriate level in each grade.

The curriculum includes different types of lessons:
Activities--explorations of math concepts and skills that use a variety of tools and methods.
Labs--extended investigations that use a simplified version of the method scientists use.
Daily Practice and Problems--items that provide practice in math skills and concepts.
Games--math games that build familiarity with math skills and concepts.
Adventure Books--illustrated stories that deal with math and science ideas.
Assessments--activities that allow the teacher and student to assess progress

-www.kendallhunt.com

Click below on your child's grade level for more information. Have fun while you practice math- Just click on games!

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