Federal Funding for MOVE IT Math™

In past years, the program has been taught in schools in Victoria, Calhoun and Wharton counties.

A model classroom has been established in Port O’Connor where kindergarten students are doing second- and third-grade level math problems.

The federal grant, from the Eisenhower Math and Science Program, is the fifth grant received for the UHV program, which was originally known as Multi-Modality Mathematics.

The University of Houston-Victoria has received a $67,000 federal grant to continue a program designed to upgrade math-teaching practices in area school districts.

Plans call for more than 100 teachers in grades kindergarten through six to participate in the program in 1990.

Participating teachers will represent school districts in Cuero, Gonzales, Hallettsville, Nordheim, Waelder, Yoakum, Vysehrad and Columbus.

Teachers from the Rice Consolidated school district and from Hallettsville’s Sacred Heart school will also participate.

The federal grant for the program will be matched with more than $33,000 from UHV and more than $33,000 in tuition fees and contributions from the participating schools.

The program is called Move It! — an acronym for “Math Opportunities, Valuable Experiences, Innovative Teaching.”

Move It! classes will be held at Hallettsville High School next spring and in Cuero, Hallettsville, Gonzales, Columbus and at Rice Consolidated next summer.

Why train practicing teachers to teach math?

“The paper-and-pencil mathematics that adults learned in the paper-and-pencil era is not appropriate for children who live in a computer based society,” said UHV education professor Paul Shoecraft, who has been operating the program for more than two years.

“With the program, we are looking to reform the way mathematics is being taught by aligning our teaching of math with research on how children learn, rather than try to mold the students to the curriculum,” he said.

Federal Funding for Math Program: UHV Receives Grant of $67,000