Overview	Resources	Math Staff
**NEW** SAT Questions of the Week	Courses	Summer Packets

 

Math Department Overview

In all mathematics courses, teachers encourage students to think about why they use a particular method to solve a problem and require that they provide well-written justifications of their answers. Teachers work with students at all levels to improve their higher order thinking skills and problem solving skills. The curriculum is designed to show how math is used in other disciplines as much as possible. Teachers provide many examples illustrating the use of math in science, social studies, or business. All math students use graphing calculators in class and at home. Students who cannot afford to buy a calculator may rent one from PB at a low cost.

The typical student at PB takes a sequence over four years of Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Pre-Calculus or Introduction to Statistics and Probability and Statistics.

Students who succeed in Algebra I in Grade 8 take Honors Geometry in 9, Algebra II in 10, and Pre-Calculus with Analysis in 11. Many students take both Pre-Calculus with Analysis and AP Statistics in their junior year and then take a second level of Calculus, Calculus with Applications or AP Calculus, their senior year.

Some students in Grade 8 attend a PB Geometry class during first period. When they enroll at PB for their four years of high school, they usually take Algebra II with Analysis in Grade 9, then Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus, and AP Statistics.

The math department works to increase students in honors and AP classes. We are implementing a program that teaches study skills and time management to encourage reticent or borderline students to take these courses and support their efforts to succeed. AP Statistics has grown from one section its first year to three sections this year, because teachers encourage students who are motivated and have completed Algebra II to enroll.

A small number of Grade 9 students who are not ready to take on-level courses in math take Mathematics and Problem Solving, a pre-algebra course, before continuing with Algebra I in Grade 10. Students may take Bridge to Algebra Two before enrolling in Algebra II. This course is designed to review the concepts and skills of algebra and geometry and prepare students for the math section of the SAT.

PB science teachers developed Engineering Science under a National Science Foundation grant with the University of Maryland (UMD) The course mirrors the goals and expectations of the freshman engineering course offered at UMD and allows students to learn how engineers solve problems. Students in the class work through a variety of small projects and one major class project, during which they act as an engineering firm to design and implement a major design and construction project. The projects vary from the design of solar stills capable of easy transport to third world nations to the current project which is the design and construction of an environmental pond and wetland within one of the courtyards at PB.

Math teachers work to show students how math relates to other subjects. Students in geometry, art, and English 10 study perspective and patterns as they read Edwin Abbott's novel Flatland. Students in statistics organize and interpret data gathered by science students about water quality of the Paint Branch and government students lobby local agencies to protect the stream.

Paint Branch leads our region and the county in participation levels. Our math team also ranked second for the year in the county in the Maryland Math League, just behind the Blair math magnet, and we are in seventh place among all Maryland public schools and 12th place among all public and private schools in Maryland and DC. Go Panthers!! Solve for X!!

Summer Math Packets

Summer Math Review Packets are MANDATORY for students entering the below listed courses. 
Click on the course listed below to print a math packet.  All the documents are in Adobe Acrobat (pdf).
Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

Math packets are also available in hard copy in the
Main Office and the Guidance Office throughout the summer.

• Algebra 1

• Geometry

• Honors Geometry

• Bridge to Algebra Two

• Algebra 2

• Honors Algebra 2

• Precalculus

• Honors Precalculus

• Stat and Math Modeling (Statistics/Trig)

• AP Statistics

• Calculus with Applications

• AP Calculus AB or BC

There are no Summer Review Packets for the following math courses:

• Consumer Math

 

Resources

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

http://www.math.com/