North Atlanta High School

Atlanta, GA

North Atlanta High School students who are mathematically gifted are not offered many opportunities to explore non-routine problems and conduct mathematical research. These highly motivated and talented students need more opportunities to experience higher-level mathematics.

At this ASA program there will be two programs that support mathematically talented students. One program, a traveling mathematics team, will compete in regional mathematics competitions. Actuaries will mentor students each week, preparing for competitions. Students will learn strategies for identifying and solving non-routine problems. Actuaries will show students how to use higher-level mathematics in different problem settings.

The second component will be a research club. Students will develop and pursue long-term mathematical research over the course of the year. Their work will be presented at the school, city, and regional mathematics research fairs. Pairs of mentors will guide research groups of four to six students in weekly meetings. Students will be able to identify a meaningful research topic, determine appropriate strategies for gathering data, determine appropriate strategies for analyzing data, and determine in their research has significant results. Actuaries will be paired so that they can be flexible in attending meetings, while the students will have the support of someone who is familiar with their work over a sustained time period.

The experience of meeting actuaries, visiting college campuses, meeting college students who are mathematics majors, meeting other high achieving high school students will be very beneficial for changing their aspirations for future careers. Students will benefit from interacting with the actuarial mentors and from interacting with other students and mathematicians at the competitions.

Programs

North Atlanta High School