With the classroom teachers, we develop skills which foster independent, disciplined learners who can recognize problems, formulate hypotheses, ask important questions, locate, analyze and evaluate information and, finally, reach valid conclusions and creative syntheses. Nueva's school-wide network, run jointly by the Computer Department and Library, enhances student learning by providing a major research base and communication link with others. An equally important goal is to promote, validate and share reading for pleasure. Grand Conversations provides training for Literary Club leaders and Adult Literary Club allows parents and staff to experience literary conversations as learners. While most math programs are oriented toward the teaching of arithmetic rules and practices, Nueva's program focuses on developing a comprehensive understanding of the patterns, concepts, and skills underlying the system of mathematics.
Learners use mathematics in solving problems, reasoning, and communicating.
Nueva's program utilizes our understanding of child development and cognition. Appropriate teaching techniques for individual children are determined by both the developmental stage of the learner and by the learning style of the child. Every new concept is presented with manipulative materials and the student is asked to record the steps of the process and demonstrate the underlying thinking for the problem. The goal is for students to move from the concrete manipulation of objects to making a picture or some other form of representation, and then to the final stages of working with abstract symbols. As students advance they build an understanding of complex mathematical systems including pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry with additional options in trigonometry and calculus.