By Virginia Groark
Day Staff Writer

On the wall of math teacher's Janice Hardink's classroom hangs a poster that poses an age-old mathematical problem: "When are we ever gonna have to use this?"

For years, students have been asking that question as they struggle to understand mathematical concepts. The fact that a poster has picked up on students' frustrations shows the query is as common as student requests to hold classes outside on a warm spring day.

But after years of asking, Montville High School students are finally learning how useful math can be under a new program that uses real life lessons to teach math.

Sponsored by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association Education Foundation, " MATH Connections" trains teachers to teach a course in algebra and pre-algebra that is activity-based, according to high school Math Department Chairman Henry Kopij. The course, which Montville High School calls Connecticut Business and Industry Association Algebra, also combines geometry, statistics and data analysis.

"Instead of learning the theory of some algebraic concept, they may organize data and gather in information and from that generate some kind of equation," Kopij said. "For algebra, they see the uses of algebra rather than just learning the theory and going home and saying, 'Gee, where am I ever going to use this?'"

The Education Foundation of CBIA, a Hartford-based business organization, got the idea to restructure math programs in the state after several of its members complained that people entering the workforce were not trained adequately, according to June Ellis, program coordinator for the foundation. In 1992, the foundation received a $3.9-million five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to come up with a program that restructures how math is taught. It also uses "real life problems and situations" in the classroom, she said.

"We found that the students and the teachers are enjoying it more," she said.

The results are not just in the eagerness students show, but also in test scores. Students who have been involved in the program at other schools in the state have done "extremely well" on math portions of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, which is a statewide grade ten assessment.

Since 1992, 15 schools in the state, one in Maine and one in Michigan have implemented the program. Montville High School is the only school in Southeastern Connecticut that offers the course.

Kopij said he first learned of the program when it was presented at a workshop he attended. About the same time Assistant Superintendent Roland F. Chapman asked Kopij if he would be interested in the program. Kopij and math teachers Chara Smith and Hardink later visited Manchester High School and talked to teachers involved with it there.

Kopij emphasized that the CBIA class is for college-bound students and not an alternative class.

On a recent morning, Hardink and Smith explained the commutative law taught in their algebra classes. Typically, the law may have been a boring lesson and cause for students to remain sleepy-eyed for the 8:30 a.m. class. But on this morning, students sat straight up in their chairs and were alert as Hardink and Smith went over the mathematic rule.

While many teachers would probably use the ubiquitous Xs and Ys common to most algebraic equations to teach the lesson, Smith and Hardink used common terms to explain the law, which pertains the order of a mathematic function. (For example, if a student adds 4 and 2 together, will he get the same result as if he added 2 and 4? Or if she subtracts 2 from 4 will she get the same answer as if she subtracted 4 from 2?)

"If you get dressed and brush your teeth or if you get up and brush your teeth and then get dressed, the final outcome is the same," Smith explained to the freshman class.

In another lesson, Hardink and Smith used electric bills to explain the role of a constant in an algebraic equation. The students were given electric bills and had to figure out the amount of electricity used by a family or were told the amount of the bill. The constant in the equation was the usage rate the electric company charges, which does not change from house to house.

Lessons like these have made the program popular with students.

"I never liked math before," said freshman Pam Noblet. "It's a lot better because you have a more hands-on kind of thing."

"It's better because it relates more to life," added freshman Chrissy Bernardi. "It's not just a ton of book work."

Under the program, homework assignments and tests often ask students to explain in a written paragraph the law as if they were tutoring a peer who had missed the class. Smith said the paragraph helps teachers determine whether the students actually understand the mathematic principles. If they don't, the paragraph enables the teacher to evaluate which part of the process the student does not comprehend.

In typical math classes, where students are simply asked to do dozens of problems, it's not so easy to pinpoint problem areas. If the students get some of the problems wrong it is hard to determine just where the breakdown in understanding is, Smith said.