Thomas A Edison High School - Talon Yearbook (Fairfax County, VA)

Page 26 text:

Clark, Willis Tourtelotte, Marilyn Kelley, Jack Taylor, John Olson, Eric Richardson, Joyce SOCIAL STUDIES During one’s four years at Edison, a great deal of emphasis is placed on History. Freshmen and Sophomores are grouped in a World History and Geography program. After a trial run last year, thematic units were established for Juniors and Seniors, consisting of political, social and economic history and U. S. govern¬ ment. In most classes, no matter what the concept, Current Events are stressed. Students learn to beg, borrow or steal a newspaper to pass the course. Less use of text books and more use of up-to-date paperback books, movies and filmstrips are incorpo¬ rated in class time. Many teachers form class discussion groups, in¬ stead of having the student work on an individual basis. If this satisfies the teacher as far as results are con¬ cerned, it also makes the students happy because they have time to catch up on the latest gossip and make plans for the weekend. 22

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Campbell, Robert Almedia, Evelyn Wild, James Hinkle, Sarah Temple, David Atkinson, Jacquelin MATHEMATICS Education is not just as simple as readin’, writin’, and ’rithmetic anymore. The Math Department is a good example of that. Basic math courses are Algebra and Ge¬ ometry, but some prefer General Math to fulfill their graduation re¬ quirements. Other venturous souls continue into the higher math courses of Trigonometry and Functions. As with other sub¬ jects, there are rules to be learned and followed, except of course, in special cases. Therefore, much of a math teacher’s time is spent at the board, going over frequent homework assignments. A few teachers choose to use the con¬ tract system—letting the pupil work at his own speed. Math stu¬ dents can easily be spotted by slide rules or tattered graph paper protruding from their books. 24