Hi there. In this education post, I would like to highlight how schools teach the same math courses in different ways. The different ways that schools and even teachers teach math depends on the contents of the math courses, the order of topics being taught and the rigor of the math courses can vary.
The motivation behind this post is based on my Mathnasium work. We have a small sample grade 12 students who are taking calculus. They are from different schools and their introductory calculus courses are different in their own ways. Grade 12 math is important in my area as students need good grade 12 math marks to be competitive for university application in mathematics, computer science, life sciences, natural sciences and business.
Some Schools Do Not Follow The Local Currculum Plan
In my region, there is a curriculum provided by the Ministry of Education in my province of Ontario in Canada. There are topics to be covered in courses along with curriculum expectations for all courses.
Some schools such as private schools or advanced placement schools may teach some math courses at a higher level. There could be more topics covered at a faster pace and/or the choice of topics could be much tougher compared to more standard courses from most schools. One example would be Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus versus regular introductory calculus for grade 12 high school students. Advanced Placement Calculus would be pretty intense as an introductory calculus course at grade 12 as AP Calculus is comparable to a standard first year introductory calculus course at university.
Some Math Courses In Certain Schools Are Tougher Than Other Schools
Public school or private schools math courses at some schools are tougher compared with some other schools. Math departments at schools can vary in how they want to teach their math courses, the difficulty in these courses and the topics covered in them. Students themselves may not know if their Grade 12 calculus course for example is tougher or easier than a calculus course from another school.
Some Notes On Private Schools
Some of our students from my Mathnasium work comes from private schools. How they run their math courses do vary as philosophies between schools do vary. A few of the students from my work go to boys private schools. One boy is in grade 8 who is doing grade nine mathematics while another is in grade nine who is doing grade 10 mathematics. The mathematics being taught does follow the Ontario province math curriculum. It is just that the expectations are a bit higher for these two students in particular.
