The Courier-Post
July 16, 1998

Parents going back to school to upgrade math skills

By Suzanne Fatow
for the Courier-Post

WILLINGBORO -- Cathy Cole gazed at the bottle of water, eye dropper and one-ounce measuring cup before her and began to laugh.

Cole, a township resident, smacked her forehead, wondered around how many ounces make a quart and then declared,"I told you I didn't like math."

Cole, the mother of a high school student, participated this week in a program designed to keep New Jersey parents up to date on what their children soon will be learning in math, science and technology classes.

Through a project developed at Rutgers University, teachers throughout the state who are trained in the new statewide core curriculum are visiting schools and churches. They bring math games, videos and written information to help parents relate to and maybe even help with, material their children are learning.

To date, about 40 sessions have been held, mostly in the northern and central parts of the state, with about 400 parents participating. Monday night's class in Willingboro was one of the first in South Jersey.

The free classes run about 90 minutes and include a video about the new core curriculum.

Exercises included the one with the eyedropper that challenged Cathy Cole. Parents were asked, "How much water does a leaky faucet drip?" Using the eyedropper to measure water and a clock to measure time, parents could calculate how much water would be lost over days and weeks.

The next South Jersey session scheduled is Oct. 20 at Logan Elementary School in Swedesboro. But project coordinator Jennifer Lomench said she expects several more before that since new sessions are being added frequently.

"Our major push is going to be for the fall," Lomench said.

The program --funded by a $1.6 million grant for the National Science Foundation--was designed by the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition, at Rutgers in New Brunswick. Its board of directors consist of people in government, education and private industry.

It aims to ready parents for a new era of math instruction. Gone are the days when students memorized a set of facts and repeated them at test time before promptly forgetting them. Schools now stress critical thinking, group learning and oral and written presentations. Rather than ask for a simple answer, teachers now will be asking how students gathered their data and how they can support the answer they derived.

"We are focusing on what business and industry have requested," said Susan Weinman, a computer science teacher at Hopewell Elementary School in Mercer County who conducted the program here at the Church of the Good Shepard in Willingboro.

"The answer in not a number. The answer is a process," she said about the new math.

Only five people attended her program Monday night, although it had been advertised in local newspapers and the church bulletin. Lomench said sessions during the school year are better attended. Still, those parents who came left somewhat overwhelmed but very enthusiastic.

"I think it was very interesting. I think it will really get the children involved in learning," said Gerri Johnson, a mother of three.