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Haverhill students showed off their mathematic skills to the Haverhill School Committee at last Thursday’s meeting.
The presentation resulted from a comment at a recent school board meeting that math being taught to students these days has evolved so significantly over the years, parents find they are not able to help their children with math homework. Kate Lally, mathematics supervisor for Haverhill Public Schools told the Committee the programs students are using are considerably more challenging and designed to make students think.
“You are about to see examples of grade level problems requiring students to think and create conclusions in various ways. You will notice the level of complexity growing with each grade level,” she said.
The presentation began with kindergarten students and continued through eighth-grade. The early grades presented students with challenges such as this one read by Lannie, a third grader.
“The pet store has 50 fish. The fish are divided equally into five tanks. How many fish are in each tank?” She asked, reading the question.
Lannie not only knew the answer, but could explain how she figured it out.
As the grade levels increased, so did the difficulty of the questions, and students presented several ways of achieving the final answer. By eighth grade, students were explaining how to convert fractional numbers into scientific notation, prompting an observation from Committee member Richard J. Rosa. “I joked with a couple of my colleagues before the meeting that my knowledge of math was probably going to end at fifth grade and I nailed it.”
Committee members thanked students for their presentations, lauding not only their obvious math skills, but also their ability to speak before a room full of people.