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= Upper School Mathematics Department = The Cary Academy Upper School Mathematics program strives to provide all students with a greater appreciation for mathematics as a discipline and as an integral part of the world in which we live. Students will be asked to actively participate in their work to develop a deeper understanding of the mathematics. Throughout the curriculum there will be an emphasis on logical reasoning and deductive skills. In addition, students must recognize that attending to detail is an essential component of producing thoughtful, quality work. While mathematics is an engaging and beautiful discipline in and of itself, there is often a need for the sciences and other areas of study to rely on mathematics. As such, the curriculum emphasizes the value and importance of mathematics in the mathematical sciences and other areas of study. Appropriate technologies are regularly integrated into classes to demonstrate the practical and beneficial use of technology, thus supporting and extending student understanding of concepts and processes involved in the study of mathematics.

Honors and Advanced Courses
All courses have high expectations, but there are different prerequisites and expectations for Honors and Advanced courses. Compared to regular mathematics courses, students in Honors or Advanced courses should expect to encounter topics at a faster pace, which will be investigated in greater depth. Students in an advanced or honors class can expect a greater emphasis on conceptual understanding and abstract thinking with less focus on review and practice. Beyond the expectations of regular mathematics courses, students are expected to be more self-motivated as well as interested in devoting time and energy towards more challenging and thought provoking problems.

Upper School Mathematics Department Vision
Being educators and thus role-models for students, we strive to be life-long learners. The department and its individuals are committed to reflect and improve in support of the CA mission, supporting and nurturing educational and social cultures. **Provide opportunities for //innovative// problem solving by** **Provide opportunities for //discovery// by** **Utilize CA’s unique access to technology to:** **Enhance conceptual understanding by allowing students to** **Support student learning by** **Support students by** > ** Fostering relationships between: > o Teacher and students > o Teacher and class > o Class itself > o is comfortable while supporting students to reach their potential > o is safe > o e ncourages risk-taking > o supports different learning styles > o respects students a individuals > o has a variety of assessments > o encourages participation **We support individual students through:**
 * Taking a traditional problem and asking non-routine questions
 * Encouraging & appreciating multiple solutions to a problem
 * Asking open-ended questions
 * Having students investigate new concepts
 * Students uncovering key concepts
 * Student choice
 * Explorations
 * Within reason, discover some ideas and properties that would normally be out of reach
 * Quickly test out a variety of hypotheses and to explore their validity
 * Easily handle variations to given population depending upon specific applications
 * Facilitating individualized and group-based communication between students and teachers
 * Organized resources on teachers’ web pages
 * Allowing students to take electronic notes which can be easily filed and accessed
 * Creating a classroom environment that
 * teacher advocacy of students