General information

Ohio Math Works is a unique collaboration between CET Cincinnati, the ThinkTV Network WPTD-WPTO and a group of business partners. Ohio Math Works is a program designed to help teachers prepare students for today’s job market by giving them a reason to study the mathematics they will need in the world beyond school.

Ohio Math Works (OMW) was developed because mathematics is a key curriculum area where students continue to struggle, as shown in the Ohio 9th grade proficiency test learning outcomes. Also, a recent initiative of the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Ohio Department of Education reported that only one in 14 high school seniors is prepared for performing most skilled entry-level jobs. Through this project, math is made “less abstract”-- students are shown that math is applied in the real world and that there will be both an opportunity and a need for students to use math when they leave school. Further, in OMW lessons, students are given an opportunity to solve math problems that are faced everyday in business. Students will also be shown how, through these businesses, that math relates to their everyday life right now.

The Ohio Math Works project is targeted to students in grades 7, 8 & 9. The OMW kit was given free to every middle-school math teacher in the 200 low wealth districts in Ohio. Other schools in Ohio can purchase the OMW kit at cost — $68.00.

There are five broad goals for the project: to improve math literacy; to improve student attitudes toward math; to increase awareness of careers that use math; to integrate educational technologies into the classroom; and, to improve teacher attitudes toward technology.

OMW is primarily based on the areas of the 9th grade proficiency exam in math that prove to be the most difficult for students. To identify those areas, the project gathered a group of exemplary teachers from the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics and several other teachers identified for their excellence in teaching. The proficiency areas they identified (#2, #3, #5, #6, #11) provide the core of the focus of Ohio Math Works. While concentrating on those five outcomes, OMW lessons also address other proficiency outcomes in the mathematics lessons.

The Ohio Math Works project addresses the proficiency learning outcomes and links math to the world of careers, through five themes: theme park design, snack food manufacturing, fashion design, weather forecasting and newspaper sports reporting.




Video Field Trips

Each of the five instructional units are introduced by a 20-minute video field trip that gives students an inside view of the industry or business involved in the unit. Students will hear directly from the professionals how they use math on the job:
  • Theme Parks - The business partners are Jack Rouse Associates (JRA) and Walt Davis. JRA provides design and production services for entertainment/theme park and corporate clients. We interviewed Randy Smith, Executive Director of Planning and Design, for JRA, concerning park layout, queues and vending carts. We also interviewed Walt Davis, an engineer who has worked in the roller coaster design and theme park management industries. He was on the team that built the Beast 20 years ago at what is now Paramount’s Kings Island. Paramount’s Kings Island also provided a great deal of assistance in the production of the video.
  • Snack Food Manufacturing - This video was produced with the Keebler Company. Mike McGrath is Group Director of Manufacturing for Keebler. We tour a Keebler bakery, where crackers and cookies are made, talking about materials requirement plans, the entire production process and the need for math at every step, as well as the use of math in marketing the product and designing new products.
  • Fashion - Jhane Barnes, Inc. was the business partner for this video, which features Jhane Barnes. Jhane designs fashion and textiles using math formulas from fractals to matrix multiplication. In the video, Jhane and her mathematicians talk not only about the importance of math and how they enjoy using math in their work, but also how math can be used to make beautiful designs.
  • Weather - Two business partners assisted with this unit: the National Weather Service office in Wilmington and WDTN Channel 2/ABC, Dayton. NWS Meteorologists Tom Johnstone, Julie Dion-Reed and Mary Jo Parker, along with on-air meteorologists Brian Davis and Carl Nichols from WDTN, show how math is used in what is primarily considered a scientific field — the weather. The meteorologists talk about the statistics they collect that are the basis for everything they do, along with why this is so important to everyone.
  • Newspapers - the business partner for this unit is the Dayton Daily News/Cox Ohio Publishing and it features Andy Blizzard, retail advertising manager, Dwayne Bray, sports editor, Jeremy Kelly, copy editor, and Susan Vinella, Dave Long, and Hal McCoy, sports writers for Dayton Daily News. Like other businesses, people putting together a newspaper rely on math to get things done. From ad space to budgeting for where to send reporters, to sports statistics to layouts of stories and pictures, everything here is based on numbers.


Teacher’s Instructional Guide

Teachers will guide students through the lessons and activities outlined in the Teacher’s Instructional Guide. The Guide is divided by instructional units, with each unit containing 3-4 lessons. Each instructional unit also contains an introduction, teacher planning information, and background material on the business partners.

In addition, each lesson features an introduction and lists the mathematical concepts to be explored. Teachers will also find materials lists, a list of recommended technology resources, the amount of time they need to set aside for these lessons, and what teachers need to do to prepare for the lessons. Once the lesson is underway, the guide takes teachers step-by-step through each activity in the lessons, with tips on teaching the lesson, worksheets, related web activities (both within the Ohio Math Works web site and at other locations on the web) and evaluation and follow-up for a lesson.

The Guide also features a cross reference for the 9th Grade Ohio Proficiency test outcomes, linking them to appropriate OMW lessons.


Manipulatives

Several OMW lessons are supported by a manipulatives, which will be used for conducting experiments. These lessons are:

  • the roller coaster track is part of the “Roller Coaster” lesson in the Theme Park unit
  • the adhesive-backed felt is for the “Create a Snack” lesson in the Snacks unit
  • the fabric sample helps illustrate the “Weaving with Math” lesson in the Fashion unit
  • the map of Ohio is for the “Twisters (Not a Game!)” lesson in the Weather unit
  • the foam ball is used in the “Sports: Numbers Tell the Story” lesson in the Newspaper/Sports unit

Web site

The Ohio Math Works web site can be found at <www.ohiomathworks.org>. The site is “divided” by unit name (e.g., Snacks, Theme Parks, etc.) which mirrors the lessons presented in the Teacher's Guide. The OMW website offers activities, mentoring, information and links for each unit. One of the benefits of the web site is that the main menu is always visible, making it easy for students and teachers to go anywhere in the site with a minimum of clicks.

In addition to the elements offered in each unit, the web site contains a “Question of the Month” area for students, which is written by teachers and related to OMW lessons and state proficiency learning outcomes.

Teachers can encourage their students to use the website, particularly the areas that are interactive. Students can upload to the web site pictures of fractals, designs they've created with software found on the site, and tessellations that they've photographed. The website also provides animation (of the Snack Production Line at Keebler, of Roller Coaster energy, and Theme Park Queue Lines) that can help students visualize lesson materials.

The area of the OMW web site that is for teachers includes information on the proficiency objectives, tips on how to develop a business partnership, and a discussion group in which teachers can share their experiences and tips on teaching OMW lessons.


Professional Development

Training was offered to Ohio teachers through the Educational Television Corporations serving each region.

In addition to teacher training, OMW offered 65 scholarships for teachers in low-wealth districts for a two-hour credit, on-line course that was presented in the summer of 2000 by Miami University. Lead professor for the course was David Kullman, PhD, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Miami University. The course concentrated on teaching the math involved in the OMW project and helped teachers design their own lessons.


Marketing

The Ohio Math Works projects was designed for, and primarily marketed to, the teachers and schools in the 200 low wealth districts. A limited number of kits are available for purchase by other schools and districts for $68 each. Kits can be ordered by calling (937) 220-1600.

As part of marketing the project, a one-hour live videoconference was presented on May 4, 2000 which featured teachers and students who have used the OMW kit in the classroom. This program aired live on all the state’s public television stations as part of their instructional television feed.


Ohio Math Works Project Staff:

OMW Mathematics Advisory Team:

Douglas A. Darfus, Mary Jo Doebling, Carol Hodanbosi, Charlene Kobida, and Dr. David E. Kullman

Mathematics Advisors for the OMW website:

Leslie Combs, Dr. Shirley Curtis

Creative Team for the OMW website:

     Website design: Boomerang Interactive Media
     Additional website photographs: Nicole Little and Nate Byrum, CET
     Video footage: Matt Ulmer, CET
     OMW website producer & webmaster: Joanne Grueter, CET

To get additional information on Ohio Math Works:

phone: (513) 345-6566
fax: (513) 381-7520
e-mail: edtech@cetconnect.org
 

Ohio Math Works is a project of
CET Learning Services, Cincinnati,
and ThinkTV, Greater Dayton Public Television.

Ohio Math Works is made possible by a grant from
the Ohio Educational Telecommunications Network Commission,
in support of the Ohio SchoolNet Initiative.

© 2000 - 2007 The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation