Catholic Division board updated on new math resources
There have been some changes in mathematics resources in the Prince Albert Catholic School Division.
In 2020, MathUp was purchased to replace the current math resources used in English and French for elementary students. Superintendent Wade Mourot updated trustees on the changes during the board of education’s regular meeting on Monday.
The division will replace Math Makes Sense with MathUp and a new French resource called Modulo that has also been purchased. Director of education Lorel Trumier said the resources are new.
“Last night was really an opportunity to inform the board about the direction (of our) math resources,” she explained. “They're always interested in ensuring that we have the best resources for our students.”
Mourot said the process of selecting the new resources has happened since 2020. She explained that with Math Makes Sense no longer being published, there is a need to reassess what resources are being used.
"We always move to the Ministry approved resources,” she explained. “We've been working on this one for the last few years and wanted to make sure that the board understood that the key components of the two programs are the same in a sense that the key outcomes of the curriculum are going to be covered in whatever resource we pick.”
Modulo comes in a web-based and print format and is also Ministry approved, Modulo has been purchased for French Immersion students in Grade 1 to 8.
“The biggest difference is obviously the online component,” Trumier explained. “There are certainly some good parts to that….
“There's enrichment, there's remediation resources, there's resources that can be used online.”
The program was developed by Marian Small.
The division plans to phase out Math Makes Sense and move to Math Up.
During the meeting several trustees asked questions around the cost of the resources. Trumier said that is a challenge like in other resources.
"As electronics become more readily available and used, many publishers are moving to that form of publishing, and one of the challenges of that is the cost to maintain,” she explained.
She added that they were fortunate to enter the agreement early in the process.
"We know that that's happening across other disciplines as well, where the resources are becoming only available online for our teachers to access,” Trumier said.
“Again, there's some challenges with it like the cost (of) having it only in that format.”
She added that the benefits of the online format is that it is readily available.
"They can do their work from wherever they are, but it changes the way of working for sure,” she said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
Michael Oleksyn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince Albert Daily Herald
