Interactive Mathematics Program: Year 2

First of all, let me state that I am a math teacher. I have taught using a variety of math texts and, in my professional opinion, IMP is the best by far. Compared to traditional curricula that teach procedures and algorithms, IMP teaches students how to understand math--not just how to *do* math. The program is problem-based, which allows students to interact with math in a much more authentic context than traditional texts that just require students to manipulate algebraic symbols without really understanding what any of it means. Students who use IMP enjoy taking math, understand how it is relevant to their lives, are more likely to take future math classes, are better able to communicate their ideas, and still score as well or better than peers taking traditional math. In fact, IMP has been identified by the U.S. Department of Education's Mathematics and Science Expert Panel (1999) as an exemplary mathematics program (See The Mathematics Teacher. Oct 2001 Vol.94, Iss. 7; pg. 540 for a detailed review). For some reason, there are a lot of opponents of IMP and other reform curricula. I believe they feel threatened by a new way of learning math that is different than the way the learned it growing up. When I was in school, I learned traditional math and did well grade-wise. I got excellent grades and eventually majored in mathematics, but I did not really understand a lot of what I learned. I knew how to *do* it extremely well, but I didn't understand how to use it in the real-world. I have learned as much math *teaching* with IMP as I ever did as a math major. There is a great deal of research on the subject, and I encourage anyone interested to look more into it instead of listening solely to myself or those with opposing opinions.