2.4. Special Features of the PUMP Classroom

In the classroom students work together in groups or teams to solve problems similar to those presented by the tutor. Teams construct their solutions by making tables, expressions, equations, and graphs which they then use to answer questions and make interpretations and predictions. The transfer of the computer tools to paper and pencil techniques and the interpretation and understanding of these tools are the emphasis of the classroom. Literacy is stressed by requiring students to answer all questions in complete sentences, to write reports and to give presentations of their findings to their peers. The project also uses alternate forms of assessment including performance tasks, long term projects, student portfolios, and journal writing. From the first day all answers must be written in complete sentences to be accepted. At the end of each quarter students are given a performance task as a final examination. At the end of each semester these tasks are graded by the teachers at a mini-scoring conference where all the teachers in the project come together, construct a scoring rubric, and score all the student papers in an afternoon. Because each teacher scores papers from every other teachers' class as well as their own they come to have a better understanding of the objectives of this new curriculum.