In the winter of 2023, a new program called the GDS Math Lab opened for eighth-grade students. The class provides eighth-graders who are in Algebra I with the opportunity to take a geometry course before high school.
Math Lab meets from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. three days a week at the lower/middle school. Middle school math teachers Cristina Briese and Daniel Schweikhard teach the sessions. The course is approaching the end of its first year.
In seventh grade, students are placed in either Pre-Algebra or Algebra I. In eighth grade, students take either Algebra I or Geometry as their primary math course.
The Math Lab curriculum moves through basic geometry topics at a pace equivalent to the Geometry Extended course at the high school. The class covers topics such as parallel and perpendicular lines, congruent triangles, right triangles and trigonometry.
Briese said that Math Lab began on Jan. 3, 2024 with about 36 students, just under half the eighth grade. That number went down to about 30 after a few students decided to drop the class. “We weren’t really sure how it was going to unfold, but it’s going very well,” Briese said of student turnout. “We did have a few students that decided it was not a good fit for them, and that’s the beauty of it.”
Eighth graders join Math Lab with different intentions. Some want to become familiar with geometry topics, so if they enter geometry in ninth grade, they recognize the material. “I knew I was going to be stressed about most of my classes, and I want to prepare for next year, for geometry, so I would already be ahead and not have to worry about that class,” eighth-grader Ellie Snyder said.
Others hope to take Algebra II when they enter freshman year. In order to do so, they must perform well on Math Lab tests, quizzes, midterms and the final exam. The students take assessments that are reused from the high school geometry course.
At 3:30, students grab provided snacks, whether that’s popcorn, chips or fruit. Often, Briese begins class with a lesson on whatever topic the students are learning. Then they sit and solve math problems, either individually or in pairs. They occasionally ask Briese, Schweikhard or each other for help. On quiz days, class begins on time, and quietly.
Briese said Math Lab was created in part with equity and inclusion in mind. The middle school math department wanted to give all students access to the same instruction that certain students were receiving through paid tutoring from tutoring companies.
“A lot of the Asian populations, the white population, they tend to bond together and work together outside of the classrooms,” Briese said. “And the Latino communities and some of the African-American communities don’t really have that habit. So we want to incentivize that and create opportunities for people to help each other in math.”
Math Lab is currently free, but the Math Lab teachers may request payments for an “end-of-program day trip,” according to a letter sent out to eighth-grade families.
In middle school, students receive marks of limited progression, progressing, demonstrating or exceeding instead of letter grades on their report cards. According to the letter, Math Lab is available to eighth-graders who have received at least a demonstrating in Algebra I’s transferable skills (skills related to all courses) and mostly demonstratings in the course’s exclusive standards (specific to math courses). Eighth-grade students currently enrolled in Geometry may also attend the meetings to review the topics they are learning about in class.
Lee Goldman, the chair of the high school math department, said she doesn’t know whether Math Lab will impact the number of freshman math high school classes. She said that it depends on how many people pass the Math Lab class and get into Algebra, she will not know until the end of the school year.
According to a document that Briese is planning to release, at the end of the course, middle school math teachers send recommendations to the high school regarding the math course a student should take. Their recommendation is based on a collection of data such as the student’s level of algebra proficiency, their scores on the standardized Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test and their work habits, such as assignment completion and their ability to do independent work.
As Math Lab happens after school, which is when athletics practices and games happen, there are many time constraints and conflicts. Schweikhard is in charge of managing these logistics. If a student misses a Math Lab session due to an athletic commitment, Schweikhard posts handouts from the sessions on Google Classroom. “That is kind of a job within itself,” he said. “We’re working with what we have.”
Schweikhard compared Math Lab to an independent study, in which high-school students can create their own curriculum and create a project with the help of a teacher, as they are both very student-led. “They’re in middle school, so they haven’t done independent studies before,” he said of the Math Lab students. “This is a lot to juggle. This is a lot to balance.”
“The pace of the class moves a lot faster than a normal class,” eighth-grader Scout Wolin said. “It’s been a bit more difficult to fully understand everything.”
Briese said that another one of the reasons she launched Math Lab was so students could get excited about math in an academic setting where the grade would not go on students’ transcripts.
High school Math Department Chair Lee Goldman said she supported the idea of Math Lab. “Any time you can give students an opportunity to nerd out about math, I think it’s going to be helpful in their future math experience,” she said. She added that she was not involved in the decision to create the course in the middle school.