Dearborn's tech center challenges math students - 10/05/01

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Morris Richardson / The Detroit News

Kolleen Ingram, right, helps Marwa Hojeij work out an advanced algebra problem.

Dearborn's tech center challenges math students
Gifted kids get chance to stretch their knowledge

By Robert Alan Glover / Special to The Detroit News

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Morris Richardson / The Detroit News

Samson Lai answers a question in his integrated systems technology class. The center caters to high achievers.
Math scores
   * Michigan fares better than several states in eighth-grade math and science scores, but that's still not saying much. U.S. pupils lag behind their counterparts in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
   * The United States even trailed students in such nations as Bulgaria and Latvia, according to results this year from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
   * Michigan students scored an average of 517 on the mathematics portion of the test, better than randomly selected groups in Texas, Indiana, Massachusetts and other states, but well behind students in Singapore, where students posted an average of 604.
   Source: Third International Mathematics and Science Study


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   DEARBORN -- Marianne Mousigian can't quite define why she likes math so much, but working through problems and finding answers appeals to the ninth-grader.
   "There is something about working with numbers that makes it just click for me," said Mousigian, a 14-year-old at Dearborn High School.
   She and 71 other Dearborn Public Schools freshmen now are getting the chance to stretch their knowledge of sines and cosines, corollaries and a host of other lessons at the recently opened Dearborn Center for Math, Science and Technology.
   The morning program is a collaborative effort between the school system and Henry Ford Community College. It is designed to give gifted students the opportunity to learn at an accelerated pace and get a leg up on the competition.
   This year's incoming freshmen stay in the program throughout their four years in high school.
   "Members of the school board and administration wanted to provide an academic challenge to students who were already high achievers," said Herm Boachim, program director of the center at the Dearborn Heights campus of the community college on Ann Arbor Trail and Outer Drive.
   Modeled after similar operations in Sterling Heights and Utica, the experimental program pulls students from their schools from 7:45 a.m. to 10:20 a.m., then returns them by bus to regular classes. Some 150 students applied for the opportunity.
   "All the applicants are high achievers in math and science and also scored well on standardized tests," Boachim said.
   The center boasts a Dell computer for each student and labs for physics and chemistry. Students study in three groups of 24.
   The initiative comes amid continued worries about Michigan students' performance in math and science. Although the state scored better than several others in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study released earlier this year, the United States still lags far behind scores in such nations as Singapore, South Korea, Japan and even Latvia.
   The math portion, Boachim said, "is typical of how the program works, with the instructor emphasizing Internet use and projects work."
   "Academic expectations for students are that they will progress through the program in terms of learning and presentation," Boachim said. "They will not just do a book report, but put their research back out into the community."
   Math instructor Andrea Lazarski, an eight-year employee of Dearborn Public Schools, said many of her students are college-bound and interested in careers in medicine or science. Her program uses hands-on learning.
   Dave Tucker, who teaches integrated systems management, said his students "use advanced technology to work on the math problems they are given. It is a nice extension of math and science."
   "One long-term goal is to have students create a Web site and do everything from making a video to editing photos," Tucker said. "Hopefully, by their senior year, they will do advanced programs such as making and using our own software."
   The center isn't all about theories and calculations, however. Instructors are careful to make students work together to solve problems, so personality and teamwork is important.
   "You need to be advanced to be in (the program), but you also have to get along with people and be outgoing when it's needed, as well as working by yourself," Mousigian said.
   Mousigian said her teachers "know their subjects really well, something that is quite obvious, and our technology teacher Mr. Tucker is really well-liked and laid back. He gets us to relax."
   Tommy Skinner, 14, of Dearborn Heights, said he gets the best of both worlds -- math, science and technology in the morning, then high school in the afternoon, while also learning a lot from his peers.
   "I know I'm working with the best and brightest," Skinner said.
   

Robert Alan Glover is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.