From the Dec. 4, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *2   REAL-LIFE MATH:  CARNEGIE MELLON'S SOFTWARE PACKAGE
->    BUSINESS WEEK highlights Carnegie Mellon's Lifetime Math
-> program, in operation at Pittsburgh, Pa.'s, Langley High School
-> (Baker, 11/25).  The program centers on software that gives
-> students real-life tasks "ranging from choosing cellular-phone
-> service to renting cars to equipping a basketball team with
-> sneakers."
->    Albert Corbett, a cognitive scientist who helped develop the
-> software, said that students who took the beginning algebra
-> course were twice as likely as others to continue on to a second year
-> in algebra, reports the magazine.
->    BUSINESS WEEK emphasizes that Lifetime Math software is the
-> "core" of Langley's math instruction in algebra and geometry,
-> "not a supplement to classroom instruction."  The magazine
-> concedes that the program's weakness is that students will learn how
-> to problem solve without acquiring basic knowledge.  Several
-> companies attempted to develop math programs that stressed
-> thinking skills, with the result that "kids got stomped on the
-> SAT," notes Illana Weintraub, founder of MathMedia Educational
-> Software in Northbrook, Ill.
->    Lifetime Math is used in 46 high schools in Pittsburgh,
-> Milwaukee adn Pensacola, Fla., writes the magazine.  Carnegie
-> Mellon charges schools $16,000 for as many copies of the software as
-> it needs, and training is included.
->    According to BUSINESS WEEK, Langley High School students who
-> used the program scored 100% higher than a comparable group of
-> Algebra I students in a problem-solving tests and 15% higher on a
-> standardized exam drawn from the math portion of the SAT.  From the
-> magazine:  "The real test will come when graduates encounter algebra
-> and geometry at work."
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