Bonham Elementary School
Model School Project

Mathematics

How can students become more informed citizens regarding real world issues? A national report found that U.S. education had a “splintered vision”: standards in science and mathematics education are not only unfocused, but aimed at the lowest common denominator (Schmidt et al, TIMSS, 1996). Compared to teachers in 50 other countries, U.S. teachers are expected to address a wide range of subjects, yet they seldom have the time to teach them in depth. As a result, students often take a piecemeal approach to learning and view content information as the boring memorization of facts that are seemingly irrelevant to their everyday lives.

The curricular focus of the problem-based units is centered on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), which is required of all learners and educators by the state of Texas. It is the premise of this research that as teachers become immersed in a model problem, their own content knowledge in science, mathematics and technology will increase, and they will modify their instructional approach in order to deliver the curriculum.

UTEP