This course is designed for students to become increasingly fluent with the language and ideas on which Calculus and college mathematics are built. However, an equally-as-important emphasis will be placed upon the appreciation of mathematics as an art form and an opportunity for practice in maintaining a growth mindset, asking elegant questions, crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations, developing critical taste, and being creative, flexible, and open-minded thinkers. 

 

The main objective of Algebra II is to engage students in the process of having ideas, struggling to have ideas, discovering patterns, generalizing those patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing their own and each other’s work, all within the framework of the notation, technique, and development of an Algebra II knowledge base.

Prerequisites:

Precalculus, dept. approval

Terms:

Full year

Eligible:

All students

Prerequisites:

AP Calculus AB, department approval

Terms:

Full year

Eligible:

All students

Prerequisites:

Pre-calculus, Dept. approval

Terms:

Full year

Eligible:

All students

This course is designed for students to become increasingly fluent with the language and ideas on which Calculus and college mathematics are built. However, an equally-as-important emphasis will be placed upon the appreciation of mathematics as an art form and an opportunity for practice in asking elegant questions, crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations, developing critical taste, and being creative, flexible, and open-minded thinkers. 

 

The main objective of Geometry is to engage students in the process of having ideas, struggling to have ideas, discovering patterns, generalizing those patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing their own and each other’s work, all within the framework of the notation, technique, and development of a Geometry knowledge base.

This course is designed for students to become increasingly fluent with the language and ideas on which Calculus and college mathematics are built. However, an equally-as-important emphasis will be placed upon the appreciation of mathematics as an art form and an opportunity for practice in asking elegant questions, crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations, developing critical taste, and being creative, flexible, and open-minded thinkers. 

 

The main objective of Honors Algebra II is to engage students in the process of having ideas, struggling to have ideas, discovering patterns, generalizing those patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing their own and each other’s work, all within the framework of the notation, technique, and development of an Algebra II knowledge base.

This course is designed for students to become increasingly fluent with the language and ideas on which Calculus and college mathematics are built. However, an equally-as-important emphasis will be placed upon the appreciation of mathematics as an art form and an opportunity for practice in asking elegant questions, crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations, developing critical taste, and being creative, flexible, and open-minded thinkers. 

 

The main objective of Honors Geometry is to engage students in the process of having ideas, struggling to have ideas, discovering patterns, generalizing those patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing their own and each other’s work, all within the framework of the notation, technique, and development of a Geometry knowledge base.

This course is designed for students to become increasingly fluent with the language and ideas on which Calculus and college mathematics are built. However, an equally-as-important emphasis will be placed upon the appreciation of mathematics as an art form and an opportunity for practice in asking elegant questions, crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations, developing critical taste, and being creative, flexible, and open-minded thinkers. 

 

The main objective of Honors Precalculus is to engage students in the process of having ideas, struggling to have ideas, discovering patterns, generalizing those patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing their own and each other’s work, all within the framework of the notation, technique, and development of a Precalculus knowledge base.

This one-semester elective introduces students to the exciting practice of making and breaking secret codes. The course begins with the Cipher of Mary Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code and put to death by Queen Elizabeth I, and travels through history, including the role of the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, and the work of Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park in England. Modern cryptography is explored, including the race to solve the “key distribution” problem.

Throughout the course, the text is supplemented by documentary videos, and practical activities. Students will encipher and decipher messages. They will build working models of a Caesar wheel and the more complicated 3-D model to decipher an Enigma message. They will work to understand the mathematical tools used in this class including, but not limited to, Probability, Statistics, Number Theory (including Modular Arithmetic), and the mathematics of the modern-day RSA cryptosystem.

This one-semester statistics course is meant to cover only the descriptive and analytic part of a statistics course.  Data classification and experimental design are given emphasis, along with student projects of this nature.  Graphs and displays of measures of central tendency, variation, and position help students understand the statistics descriptions.  Probability is studied in detail and followed by discrete and normal probability distributions. 

Prerequisites:

Algebra II

Terms:

Eligible:

All students

Calculus is the study of change and accumulation.  Although we will study many of the same topics as in Algebra and Precalculus, we will apply the limit process to each in order to look at these changes in a new and dynamic way.  BC Calculus overlaps AB Calculus and additionally covers the material one would see in a second semester of college Calculus. Specific 

Multivariable calculus covers the material one would see in a third semester of college Calculus.  This class extends the concepts learned in previous calculus courses to functions of multiple variables in three dimensions; looking at partial differentiation and iterated integration of these functions along the way.  We will also spend a lot of time developing the use of vector and parametric representations of these functions. Emphasis is placed on the use of multiple representations for each topic: graphical, analytical, and even written descriptions.  Students will be required to present problems to the class each week to build their communication skills and generate discussion. In addition, students will be encouraged to adopt a growth mindset, to help deepen their problem solving skills, and to practice being creative thinkers.  These skills will help them apply their newfound knowledge to myriad different situations.

The realm of personal finance is one of the most explicit applications of math to our daily lives. This one-semester course is designed to familiarize students with money and its many roles in a personal (as opposed to business) context. From savings and checking accounts to credit cards, insurance to taxes, budgeting to preparing for college, students will develop strategies for becoming economically safe and independent.

Because discussions around money can sometimes be difficult, extra attention is given to the creation and enforcement of student-built norms. The goal is that everyone learns best practices, regardless of their preexisting financial background. 

Prerequisites:

Algebra II

Terms:

Spring

Eligible:

All students

This course is designed for students to become increasingly fluent with the language and ideas on which Calculus and college mathematics are built. However, an equally-as-important emphasis will be placed upon the appreciation of mathematics as an art form and an opportunity for practice in asking elegant questions, crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations, developing critical taste, and being creative, flexible, and open-minded thinkers. 

 

The main objective of Precalculus is to engage students in the process of having ideas, struggling to have ideas, discovering patterns, generalizing those patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing their own and each other’s work, all within the framework of the notation, technique, and development of a Precalculus knowledge base.

This one-semester statistics course is meant to teach the principles of statistical reasoning through the lens of sports.  This does not take the same approach as a standard statistics course, but aims to give students a big picture of statistical problem-solving right from the start.  This investigative process will involve formulating questions, collecting data, analyzing data, and interpreting results, all related to a new, motivating sports question each chapter.  The course will also use simulation-based inference methods as opposed to traditional methods, so as to assure that students can understand and use the entire process from the start.  I am also hoping that a sports topic will increase interest in the class and provide some fun experiments like shooting free throws while people are yelling or kicking a warm football versus a cold football to see which travels farther.  However, each chapter will also include a section that is not related to sports just to show some other relevant applications.

Prerequisites:

Algebra II

Terms:

Fall

Eligible:

All students