Holt Releases New Edition of Mathematics in Context With Additional Co

AUSTIN, Texas, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Holt, Rinehart and Winston today announced the newly revised edition of Mathematics in Context(R) (MiC) is now available (http://www.hrw.com/math). MiC is known for its success in developing understanding of mathematics through realistic contexts and for preparing students for algebra. It now offers even more algebra, more geometry and measurement, more number theory, more probability content, and enhanced support materials.

MiC authors and developers worked closely with classroom teachers to enhance MiC's use in the classroom. Modifications to the scope and sequence reflect changes in many state mathematics standards, and new units and lessons are integrated throughout the curriculum. The Teacher's Guides now include reduced student pages with point-of-use teaching notes from classroom teachers, mathematical background for teachers, formative assessment opportunities, and suggestions on how to differentiate instruction for special student populations. An Assessment Pyramid enables teachers to assess all students at their own learning and performance levels.

Teachers have already found MiC to be an effective mathematics curriculum because its connection to real-world problems helps students grasp mathematics and be successful on state assessments. "[My] students did well on their test because they were used to not only solving a problem, but also justifying how they know they are right," said Nancy Vogler, a teacher in Ames, Iowa.

"We are indebted to the classroom teachers who field-tested the new MiC revised content and contributed to the development of these materials in so many ways," said David C. Webb, executive director of Freudenthal Institute USA. "The collective commitments of the development team, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Holt, Rinehart and Winston resulted in the production of a world-class curriculum that offers teachers and students even greater access to rich mathematics."

MiC is a comprehensive mathematics curriculum typically used in grades six through eight. Each level is organized into nine units representing the major strands suggested by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Principles and Standards for School Mathematics: Number, Algebra, Geometry and Measurement, and Data Analysis and Probability. In addition to the student books and teacher's guides, MiC program options include a new CD-ROM test and practice generator and a comprehensive teacher training program.

Published by Encyclopaedia Britannica, MiC is distributed exclusively by Holt. Development of the mathematics curriculum and the recent revision were funded in part by the National Science Foundation. MiC is the result of collaboration between the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Freudenthal Institute at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands.

A minicourse on developing algebraic thinking using MiC was featured at the NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition in Anaheim, Calif. on April 7. Gail Burrill, past president of NCTM and associate researcher at Michigan State University and Akihiko Takahashi, assistant professor at DePaul University in Chicago, led the minicourse where participants observed a group of students participating in MiC lessons and then discussed their observations in a debriefing session that followed.

About Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Holt, Rinehart and Winston is a leading publisher of textbooks and educational materials for grades six through 12 and is part of Harcourt Education, a global education provider serving students and teachers in PreK through grade 12, adult learners, and readers of all ages. The Harcourt companies are Harcourt School Publishers; Holt, Rinehart and Winston; Harcourt Achieve (including the Rigby, Steck-Vaughn, and Saxon imprints); Harcourt Assessment; Classroom Connect; Harcourt Canada; and Harcourt Trade Publishers. For further information, please call 800-992-1627 or visit http://www.hrw.com/ or http://www.harcourt.com/.

Harcourt Education is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc. (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), which is a world-leading publisher and information provider. It is owned equally by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV .