Mathematics Department

The Mathematics Department offers a comprehensive college preparatory curriculum designed to meet the diverse needs of the students and courses that appropriately challenge the student population. Taking into account the interest and ability levels of students, the Department ensures a thorough mathematics education for all. The Department ensures that the strongest students are challenged and that those who have more difficulty are supported.

Since maturity impacts a student’s ability to process mathematical concepts, the Department believes that placing a student on an unchangeable “track” penalizes both the overachiever and late-bloomer. Movement to and from regular and honors courses is possible if certain criteria are met. Mathematical thinking and reasoning skills, including making conjectures and developing sound deductive arguments, are important because they serve as a basis for developing new insights and promoting further study. Students demonstrate computational proficiency – the ability to compute efficiently and accurately-with fractions, decimals and integers.

Students connect mathematical concepts to their daily lives, as well as to situations from science, the social sciences, medicine, and commerce. Students should recognize the value of mathematics in examining personal and societal issues.

Milken graduates students who exhibit excellence in the following areas:

• Standard 1:  A clear and effective communicator

• Standard 2:  A creative and practical problem solver

• Standard 3:  A critical thinker able to use resources and information to form new idea

• Standard 4:  Using both religious and secular materials to become an integrated and informed thinkers

• Standard 5:  A self-directed and life long learner (lishma)

The goals of the Middle and High School Mathematics Department are in accordance to the stated standards:

• To develop instructional programs that enable students to build new mathematical knowledge through problem-solving, solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts, apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems, and monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem-solving (Standards 2 and 3)

• To develop instructional programs that enable students to organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication; communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others; stimulate student interest in writing about their problem-solving strategies and understanding of mathematical algorithms (Standards 1 and 4)

• To develop fluency in operations with real numbers, and use mental computation or paper-and-pencil calculations for simple cases and technology for more complicated cases (Standard 2)

• To provide problem-solving situations for students to represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic symbols and use mathematical models to represent and understand quantitative relationships (Standards 1 and 2)

• To understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement and apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements (Standards 3 and 4)

• To create confidence and enthusiasm for the study of mathematics (Standard 5)

• To encourage students to develop the skills of cooperative problem-solving and team work (Standards 1 and 5)

• To recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics (Standard 5)

• To increase student understanding of the use and misuse of calculators (Standards 3 and 5)

Mathematics Curriculum Philosophy: Effective traditional methods and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards Six Principles for School Mathematics (NCTM)

• Equity – Excellence in mathematics education requires equity-high expectations and strong support for all students.

• Curriculum – A curriculum is more than a collection of activities: it must be coherent, focused on important mathematics, and well articulated across the grades.

• Teaching – Effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well.

• Learning – Students must learn mathematics with understanding, actively building new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge.

• Assessment – Assessment should support the learning of important mathematics and furnish useful information to both teachers and students.

• Technology – Technology is essential in teaching and learning mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and enhances students’ learning.