During the spring of 2001, a dozen teachers participated in a semester-long trial of the Math Insight software. Data were collected both from teachers and from students.
Math Insight met the goals for which it was designed. Teachers found the Math Insight problems to be well matched to important topics in the curriculum, of appropriate difficulty, and highly engaging to students. As intended, Math Insight is well suited for collaborative student work; students reported that they preferred working in pairs to working alone. After working on the Math Insight problems for an average of 10 to 12 class periods, students demonstrated improvement in their understanding of the use of formulas in spreadsheets and in their ability to solve a novel, complex paper-and-pencil mathematics problem. The students, like the teachers, reported that Math Insight was a valuable addition to their mathematics classes.
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