The teacher's role is to continually ask questions so as to guide and build students' understandings. This emphasis on real-world contexts distinguishes MiC from traditional curriculums, says Meyer. One problem, for example, asks students to examine a parking lot that has a certain number of spaces filled. What's also unique about MiC, she adds, is that students are able to build their understandings of mathematical concepts over time. Take percentages, for example.
Percentages then become an all-consuming part of the curriculum.
The MiC curriculum also allows students to draw connections between concepts that before were taught in isolation, Ludwig adds. When learning about those percentages, for example, students are introduced to decimals and fractions as well. Giving students opportunities to see connections is an important feature of the MiC curriculum, says Meyer. And, Meyer points out, because the problems are contextual, the curriculum is also interdisciplinary. In one unit, students compare how beans grow in different mediums.