The vision of the Discrete Math Project is to give all students the opportunity to develop a positive identity as learners of mathematics and see themselves as mathematically skilled. Our mission is to expand access to meaningful experiences that advance secondary students' mathematical ways of thinking, to support them as they use mathematics to make sense of the world, and to enable them to make critical decisions based on mathematically sound reasoning.
The Discrete Math Project Collaborative offers students two related course options.
Length of course: Full year
Subject area: Mathematics ("C") / Advanced Mathematics
Prerequisites: IM 3 or Algebra 2 and Geometry
Grade level: 12th
DMPC is a UC "a-g" approved course, with approval in the mathematics ("c") category. The curriculum includes eight units, and for each unit we have produced a student text as well as accompanying teacher materials. These materials provide an accessible introduction to topics that are at the heart of discrete mathematics. Additionally, these materials were designed to enable teachers of twelfth-grade mathematics courses to engage their students in developing mathematical habits of mind.
1. To advance students’ mathematical ways of thinking, as described in the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice, necessary for success in college math, career, and life.
2. To foster students’ mathematical curiosity and to demonstrate how mathematics can solve authentic mathematical problems.
3. To help students acquire knowledge of essential and desirable mathematics content as defined by the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates of the CCC, the CSU, and the UC’s Statement of Competencies in Mathematics (2013).
Length of course: Full Year
Subject area: Mathematics ("C") / Advanced Mathematics
Prerequisites: IM 2 or Algebra I and Geometry
Grade levels: 11th, 12th
In this student-centered course, students engage in problem solving experiences that allow for productive struggle and mathematical knowledge construction. The goal of the course is to advance students’ thinking as defined by the Standards for Mathematical Practice, while Discrete Math content is used as a context in which students develop these ways of thinking. Each lesson presents students with phenomena from within Introductory: Game Theory, Graph Theory (Connectivity and Traceability), Combinatorics, Cryptography, and the Study of Sequences and Series (i.e., Functions defined explicitly or recursively over the set of natural numbers). From these experiences students will engage in many forms of mathematical reasoning, including inductive and deductive reasoning, reasoning with recursion, definitional and structural reasoning. Definitions, concepts and skills are necessitated through problem-solving. Students are responsible for defining, modeling, pattern generalizing, conjecturing and justifying. They are expected to collaborate and communicate mathematical ideas regularly in verbal and written forms.
Professional Development:
DMPC offers districts on-going professional development through in-person workshops and follow-up sessions, regular on-site coaching, and support of collaborative teaching models.
