FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2008
Contact: Jessica Wong
(662) 329-7119

MUW receives No Child Left Behind grant for summer math program

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women recently received a $78,000 No Child Left Behind grant through the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and Department of Education.

The grant will go toward funding a four-week summer institute for middle school math teachers during the month of June. The institute called TEAM AIMS, Technology Education and Mathematics Advancement in Middle School, will focus on teaching and equipping approximately 15 middle school mathematics teachers from seventh through ninth grade in using innovative technology in their classrooms to aid in teaching. The technology equipment will primarily include electronic Mimio whiteboards, Office 2007 graphic presentation software (PowerPoint) and TI-84 graphing calculators.

Funded by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and Department of Education, the program will take place from June 2-27. Middle school teachers from eleven school districts in a 50-mile radius of the Columbus area are being invited to attend on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The course will focus on using material, problems and practices from leading research in mathematics education, including Everyday Math (McGraw-Hill Wright Group), Understanding by Design (Grant Wiggins), 12 Algebra Readiness Indicators (Southern Regions Education Board), Real-World Problem Solving with Graphic Novels (Glencoe McGraw-Hill) and Singapore Math.

"All of these organizations have studied motivational instructional methods and designed standards-based problems for developing greater conceptual understanding in the minds of students," said, Dr. Richard Holden, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

The program also will concentrate on instructing the teachers on how to make the classroom a more student-friendly and hands-on environment by using computers and TI-84 graphing calculators. The teachers will be instructed on how to apply basic math principles and standards by creative construction, production and presentation of story problems.

"The goal of the institute is to provide middle school mathematics teachers with material and procedures that will positively impact student motivation, achievement and conceptual understanding through the effective use of technology. The desired outcome is to help our students become the owners and producers of their own knowledge and understanding," Dr. Holden said.