Breck School - Mustang Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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25 Math was everyone’s favorite class

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MATHEMATICS 1 he Math program continues with great success. With last year’s addition of a computer. interest in mathematics has been greatly augmented. Eventually, any Upper School student will Ik able to learn about and operate the machine. The Minnemast Program in the Lower School now extends from Kindergarten through the second grade. This modern approach teaches abstract principles in mathematics by simple, defined methods. It is the hope of the school that this program will grad ually expand throughout the entire school, adding one grade per year to the program. The School Mathematics Study Group program is also a modern approach to mathematics. It is currently being used in grades three and eleven. Although it will lx used in grade twelve next year, it will eventually disappear with the advance of the Minnemast program. The senior class has its own math program, a three-branched program consistingof algebra, advanced math, or calculus, depending on the student’s individual abilities. 24

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SCIENCE During the past four years, four new programs have been added to the curriculum of the Breck School Science Department. Each new course has strengthened the over-all scientific program so much so that Breck can safely say that it has a comprehensive course of study which will satisfy any college. I he Senior year course of study is a stimulating and interesting course in Physics. 1 lie material, the P.S.S.C. (Physical Science Study Committee), makes the student draw conclusions from his own research — not just by rote. It is currently being taught by Mr. Jacobson, a new member of Breck’s faculty. In 1964, the administration instituted yet another program at Breck—CHEM Study or Chemical Education Materials Study Program. This, too, is founded on the belief that a student will learn more if he does not have to memorize a list of symbols or molecular weights; he learns by trying to explain what he sees. Mr. Man’s students have found truth in the text’s subtitle, “An Experimental Science”. Tenth grade students are currently being introduced to BSCS, an extremely modern biology course. Claude A. Welch, supervisor for the text, states that the book’s goal is “. . . to help the student obtain some understanding of the nature of science as a vigorous interaction of facts and ideas. The facts of biology will not be presented to him as a series of foregone conclusions.” I he latest innovation ol teaching science at Breck has taken place in the Freshman year. Only instituted this year, a brand new program taught by Mr. Marr is trying to acquaint the ninth graders with the basic skills used in the upper forms —graphing, collecting data, drawing conclusions, and using the slide rule. The seventh and eighth graders are being introduced to science with Mr. Nielsen’s Earth Science And General Science by Mr. Marr, respectively. 26