For years middle schools throughout the United States have used Mathematics in Context (MiC) as their primary curriculum.  A program for grades 6-8 published by Encyclopaedia Britannica, it was developed jointly at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Utrecht, and funded in part, let us not neglect to mention, by the National Science Foundation.

Today we’re moving ahead with some enhancements to the MiC program, in a project where we’ll team up with The Math Forum @ Drexel University to provide teacher training and professional development for teachers who use the MiC curriculum. Details in our news release.

And if this interests you, perhaps you’d also like to take a look at our math curriculum for grades 1-6, Britannica SmartMath. News release on that here.

Oh, yes, and MiC has helped students in Philadelphia boost their math scores.

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I hope you won’t begrudge us a bit of crowing over the fact that Britannica SmartMath has just been named a finalist for the 2009 Codie Awards.  The Codie is the most covetted honor in the information publishing business, and, well, we covet it.  We’re only human.

Besides, Britannica SmartMath is new, and it’s nice to see a new product win praise.

SmartMath is an engaging, interactive program consisting of more than 35,000 practice questions that together form an integrated curriculum correlated to educational standards. It combines questions and activities with some very cute avatars to individualize student learning.  More about it here. 

You can see all the Codie finalists here.

As always, schools interested in Britannica SmartMath or any of our products can go to http://info.eb.com or call 1-800-621-3900.

Today is 08-08-08, and according to news reports, the Chinese authorities were to take full advantage of the fortuitous numerical convergence and start the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games precisely at 8:08 Beijing time. Under the circumstances, it seems only fitting that we repost these observations by our own resident numbers maven, Professor Ian Stewart:

“The number 8 is generally considered to be an auspicious number by numerologists. The square of any odd number, less one, is always a multiple of 8 (for example, 9 - 1 = 8, 25 - 1 = 8 x 3, 49 - 1 = 8 x 6), a fact that can be proved mathematically. In Babylonian myth there were seven spheres plus an eighth realm, the fixed stars, where the gods lived. As a result, 8 is often associated with paradise. Muslims believe that there are seven hells but eight paradises, signifying God’s mercy. In Buddhism 8 is a lucky number, possibly because of the eight petals of the lotus, a plant associated with luck in India and a favourite Buddhist symbol.

“In China, just as the number 7 determines the life of a woman, 8 determines that of a man. A boy gets his milk teeth at eight months, loses them at eight years, reaches puberty at 2 x 8 = 16, and loses sexual virility at 8 x 8 = 64. The I Ching, which describes a system of divination using yarrow stalks, involves 64 = 8 x 8 configurations.”

Ian’s full blog post is here. Go here for his larger article on “number symbolism” in Encyclopaedia Britannica.

[Cross-posted from the Britannica Blog]

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