In Educational Leadership, 18-21. Reviewed by Amy Holcombe. It integrates all areas of math education by giving students complex, motivating problems that they work on individually and in groups to solve. The teacher's role is much different than that in a traditional math classroom. The emphasis in IMP is to guide students and help them make connections between the knowledge they have and the problem they are presented.
Little time is spent lecturing to the class.
Currently, a long-term study is underway to see what happens to graduates of IMP after they leave high school. The authors do point out that IMP students are continuing with mathematics longer than students in traditional programs. The IMP program also allows the students to cover many topics that most high school students do not see until college, such as standard deviation. The Interactive Mathematics Program seems to be a program dedicated to helping student to think, not just memorize facts and formulas. Integrating all areas of mathematics curriculum offers students the chance to transfer their learning from previous math courses to practical, relevant situations.