Algebra, Engineering and Real Life

Twenty-year Montrose math teacher, Mrs. Sue Leist, strives to bring algebra to life for her students in an effort to demonstrate the important and relevant role mathematics plays in today’s world. To that end, she initiated the Engineers Teaching Algebra program at Montrose as a complement to the school’s upper school math curriculum. This year, Mrs. Leist invited professional engineer Mr. Mark Love to present to her 9th and 10th grade students on November 14. 

With energy and an obvious enthusiasm for his profession, Mr. Love engaged students in interactive, real-life problem solving games that involved traffic patterns and lights. He encouraged students to spend time pondering solutions to the problems he posed, thinking things through before jumping to use a calculator or computer.  “Always make sure your answers make sense and are reasonable,” he said, “A computer is only a tool – you need to think.”

When students thoughtfully applied the skills they had acquired in Mrs. Leist’s algebra class to come up with reasonable, estimated solutions without the help of a calculator, Mr. Love was impressed. “I see there are a lot of engineers in this class!” he said approvingly.

Mr. Love left Montrose with an appreciation for the learning that goes on in its classrooms. “Montrose math students are the top,” he said, “They truly are the cream of the crop.”