Glastonbury Public Schools Mathematics Department
About the Curriculum
Math curriculum is designed so that all students learn that math makes sense. By providing students the content, knowledge, skills, literacies, instructional methods, assessments and conditions to discover the big ideas and understandings of concepts through rigorous problems and investigations, students become mathematicians who can:
Explain and apply mathematical concepts and interpret and carry out mathematical procedures with precision and fluency,
Solve a range of complex well-posed problems in pure and applied mathematics,
Clearly and precisely construct viable arguments to support their own reasoning and to critiques the reasoning of others, and
Analyze complex, real-world scenarios and can construct and use mathematical models to interpret and solve problems.
~ From the Common Core State Standard Mathematical Practice Standards
The structure of the GPS Math Curriculum is based upon research regarding learning. The big ideas of each course are developed through inquiry-based learning activities. Conceptual understanding is mastered and then used to develop skill proficiency. The progressions of skills, knowledge, and understanding are clearly articulated in the curriculum documents and shared with students as appropriate. Students move through concrete, representational, and abstract understandings of skills and concepts based upon individual learning needs as well as developmentally appropriate expectations.