Does anyone use MEP math for high school?

[hollyhock]

Reluctantly sneaking my way onto the high school board.... :)

 

This is a bit of a shot in the dark as I think most people quit using MEP math after elementary. However, in case someone out there can help me, I'm wondering if anyone here has used it in high school, specifically the GCSE level. 

 

If you have used GCSE, what route did your student do (standard, academic, express)? And what did you move on to afterwards? Pre-calculus? Something else?

 

I've posted questions at the MEP Yahoo group as well, but I'm not getting any responses yet. Any help is appreciated!

[zookeeperof3]

 I was coming to post the same question!

 

[Arcadia]

For GCSE, use the Express/Special books. The A Levels page would be the closest match to PreCalc

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/alevel/alevel.htm

 

I use what I like for supplement so I didn't need to do a one to one tally. I did take the Further maths exams decades ago which includes mechanics and stats.

[horsellian]

I think it depends on how much you want your student's studies to look like the typical US sequence.  Note that I've not used the secondary stuff yet myself, but I am in the UK, so I know a bit about how the GCSE/A level system works!  

 

I wouldn't think that the A level stuff would be very easy to shoehorn into the US system (not that I really understand what falls into "Algebra 2" or "Pre-calculus").  In the English system most students taking A level will do Pure Maths and Mechanics, or Pure Maths and Statistics, or Pure Maths with a bit of both Mechanics and Stats.  (One of my sisters did take a Descision maths paper, but I think it's not very common).

 

I also note that the main MEP page says "The A-Level course is still under development" so I'm not sure whether they are a particularly good match even if you were intending to sit A level exams at the moment, as the exam boards keep changing their syllabi.

[kiana]

I'd say that precalculus would be an appropriate placement after GCSE. If you wanted to continue with MEP, doing the Pure Mathematics section of the A level would cover precalc and calc 1 with the exception of some material on conic sections and matrices. The conic sections are touched on very briefly in Further Pure Mathematics and the matrices are covered there, but I don't consider those to be essential core material, and you could also easily supplement them with a standard precalc text as those chapters are usually pretty discrete.

 

I'd expect someone who went through PM to place into calc 2 and to find a fair amount of the material there review. I'd expect someone who went through FPM to place into calc 3. The statistics modules would only be covered in a statistics class, the mechanics module probably wouldn't be covered except in a physics class, and the discrete mathematics module would be covered in a separate discrete mathematics course.

 

The stats modules require calculus but would be a great post-calculus class for someone who'd taken a standard calculus class. The discrete math modules are pretty independent and doing them would be a great elective. 

 

[hollyhock]

Thank you! Very helpful. I'm in Canada so I'm not trying to shoehorn MEP into a US math sequence. Math here is integrated so that's part of the reason I am using MEP. My plan was to hopefully finish GCSE and then move to a more traditional pre-calculus, so it sounds like that should work. But all the info on the A-levels is helpful, just in case the kids love MEP so much they don't want to switch.

[lewelma]

I'm using it with my younger. We are in NZ and have an integrated maths program here, so it fits in well. We went through 7 programs/texts before settling on MEP. He just really struggled to mesh with any of them. What he loves about MEP is the mastery approach with a rotation of topic every 2 weeks. This exactly what he wants and so few programs have it! So because he loves it and because of the trouble we have had with other programs, we will keep with MEP even if I have to do major tweaking. My ds can either take the Cambridge exams (IGCSE, AS, and A levels) or the NZ exams. If he takes the Cambridge route, then MEP will be ideal; if he takes the NZ route, then we will have to tweak. So after the IGCSE level material, we will use the AS material, and then A level material if it is out by then. If it is not, we will switch to published books targeting whichever exam we finally settle on.

 

We definitely do the express route, but I print all out books rather than buying them, so can drop back a level if he is struggling. The teachers material just tells you which problems in each section are the ones for each route. I use the academic route test as a practice test before having him take the express test. We also really like the investigations, and make sure to get one in during each unit.

 

Happy to answer any other questions,

 

Ruth in NZ

[hollyhock]

Those are some great ideas. Thanks for replying, Ruth.

[Mama2two]

This is an old thread, but want to bump up in case anyone could provide anymore thoughts on using MEP in high school.

 

I have a daughter who has finished pre-algebra but needs more practice before moving on to algebra.  I have a son about 3/4 the way through algebra (both using Derek Owens)

 

I would like to move to an integrated approach for both of them.  I was thinking of having them start in Year 7 and 8.  Would that be a good placement? 

 

Any other thoughts on using MEP in high school?  Looks like we would work through Level A Pure Mathematics to get through Calculus?

[MarkT]

This is an old thread, but want to bump up in case anyone could provide anymore thoughts on using MEP in high school.

 

I have a daughter who has finished pre-algebra but needs more practice before moving on to algebra.  I have a son about 3/4 the way through algebra (both using Derek Owens)

 

I would like to move to an integrated approach for both of them.  I was thinking of having them start in Year 7 and 8.  Would that be a good placement? 

 

Any other thoughts on using MEP in high school?  Looks like we would work through Level A Pure Mathematics to get through Calculus?

Just curious are you located in North America?

[kiana]

In the UK Year 1 is 5 year olds, so year 7 would correspond to 11 year olds. It's not really high school material. If you look through the actual units, in year 8 they're doing some elementary expanding of products of binomials (unit 8) and in year 9 there's a fair amount more graphing and they get pretty well through quadratics at the end. I'd say year 9 would map fairly well to having completed algebra and a significant amount of geometry/probability as well. It doesn't cover exactly everything but it's not misaligned. I would expect them to be able to move into an algebra 2 class and to find a fair amount of geometry review, but not all of it (it doesn't look like there's much in the way of proof). 

 

I've had a quick browse through the GCSE material and I don't see anything about logarithms or functions. It looks like those aren't introduced until A level -- functions seem to be introduced in the second unit and exponents/logarithms in the 11th. These are often covered in algebra 2 although I think a student could probably transition to pre-calculus after GCSE. There is a lot more trigonometry in GCSE than you'd see in most curricula here prior to pre-calculus. 

 

Completing the A level pure mathematics units through 11, plus at least 15 (optionally 13), as well as selected parts of units from further pure mathematics, would cover pre-calculus. But calculus is integrated into the instruction, which it frequently is not in the US. Finishing off the pure mathematics units and further pure mathematics units, as well as selected units or parts of units from mechanics, would get you through calculus. 

 

So to the OP: I'm not sure switching completely is a good idea. If you do want to do it, you'll need to back-fill carefully with parts of units from the middle school material, and you'll also need to commit to it for the long haul. Because the scope and sequence is so different, switching at non-transition points would be difficult. But I *do* think that if you want more algebra review, choosing parts of units from MEP would be an excellent way to do it. 

[hollyhock]

Thought I would add some thoughts because I am the OP and I have a bit more experience now with this. I am actually using GCSE with my 10th grader right now, and I would say it is comparable to the 10th grade integrated math here in Canada (at least in my province). There are a number of algebra 2 topics that are missing from GCSE but there is more coverage of trig and statistics and other things. If you wanted to use MEP for high school, I would start with year 9 and do all of GCSE, and plan on doing algebra 2 afterwards, or at least partially, in order to cover the topics missed. I don't think I would use GCSE above 10th grade unless your student is not college bound.