Math Enrichment
Math Enrichment: Grades 3-6 The purpose of the Enrichment Program is to provide horizontal enrichment for the identified mathematically talented students in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the area of problem solving and mathematical investigations. This enrichment will occur during two days a week in place of the student's regular math class. Instructional Procedures, Purpose, and Objectives: The student will master a four step method of problem solving: 1. Understand the problem.2. Plan how to solve the problem.3. Carry out the plan.4. Look back at the process.
The student will learn to solve a variety of problems using one or more of the following strategies:
| draw a picture | trial and error |
| find a pattern | experimenting |
| make an organized list | act out the problem |
| make a table | work backwards |
| solve a simpler problem | write an equation |
| guess and check | use logic and deduction |
| change your point of view |
The student will analyze problems and use his/her understanding of mathematics to devise one or more plans of attack and continue to work with the problem until a method is devised to solve it. Using various materials, the student will translate written or oral problems into the language of mathematics. Students will be encouraged to strive for brevity and elegance in their problem solutions and to find more than one method of solution. Students will interact with one another at appropriate times during the solution of a problem or the development of a project to challenge them to defend, clarify, and generalize their thinking. Students will expand their understanding by creating their own problems, algorithms, procedures and prove the logic of their thinking. Students will participate in the Pennsylvania Mathematics League competitions and the Elementary Math Olympiads.