BOOKS FOR CHILDREN, EDUCATION, AND HOMESCHOOLING
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Key Curriculum EMPower Mathematics Series
An Alternative Curriculum for Adults, Alternative Education and GED Preparation
This series is designed for adult and alternative students who have struggled with traditional math texts and have not done well. This curriculum will motivate these students with engaging activities that relate to their lives, build their understanding of mathematical concepts, and accommodate their varying skill levels. It can be used as a complete curriculum or books can be mixed and matched according to meet current needs. I am just starting to list these, since they are new. I will list the titles for now and add the details as I have time. Student books are $10.76-D and teacher books are $26.96.
More about the series as a whole: Rather than focusing on memorization of formulas, students develop useful mathematics skills through engaging exercises that relate to their lives. Classrooms are learning communities where participants share strategies and discover multiple ways to solve problems.
The authors of the series are Mary Jane Schmitt, Myriam Steinback, Tricia Donovan, and Martha Merson. It was developed and field tested by the Education Research Collaborative at TERC with support from the National Science Foundation.
EMPower's eight non-sequential units emphasize whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percents, proportions, geometry and measurement, algebra, and data and graphs. The Teacher Book for each unit thoroughly guides the instructor with detailed support, including detailed mathematical background, facilitating guidelines, assessments, and more.
Titles:
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Many Points Make a Point: Data and Graphs
Students collect, organize, and represent data using frequency, bar, and circle graphs. They use line graphs to describe change over time. They use benchmark fractions and the three measures of central tendency—mode, median, and mean— to describe sets of data. |
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Seeking Patterns, Building Rules: Algebraic Thinking
Students use a variety of representational tools— diagrams, words, tables, graphs, and equations— to understand linear patterns and functions. They connect the rate of change with the slope of a line and compare linear with non-linear relationships. They gain facility with and comprehension of basic algebraic notations. |
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Over, Around, and Within: Geometry and Measurement
Students explore the features and measures of basic shapes. Perimeter and area of two-dimensional shapes and volume of rectangular solids provide the focus. |
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Using Benchmarks: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Students use the fractions 1/10, 1/2, 1/4, and 3/4; the decimals 0.1, 0.5, 0.25, and 0.75; and the percents 50%, 25%, 75%, 100%, and the multiples of 10% as benchmarks with which to describe and compare all part-whole relationships. |
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Split It Up: More Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Building upon their command of common benchmark fractions, students add 1/3's, 1/8's, and 1/100's, and their decimal and percent equivalents, to their repertoire of part-whole relationships. |
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Everyday Number Sense: Mental Math and Visual Models
Students solve problems with whole numbers using mental math strategies with benchmarks of 1, 10, 100, and 1000 to compute. Number lines, arrays, and diagrams support their conceptual understanding of number relationships and the four operations. |
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Keeping Things in Proportion: Reasoning with Ratios
Students use various tools—objects, diagrams, tables, graphs, and equations—to understand proportional and non-proportional relationships. |
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Operation Sense: Even More Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Students extend their understanding of the four operations with whole numbers as they puzzle over such questions as, "How is it possible that two fractions multiplied might yield a smaller amount?" and "What does it mean to divide one-half by six?" |
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