Students revving up calculators

Boys at Mary Bramlett Elementary School attended several presentations about math in the workplace Wednesday, including a discussion about motorcycles. Pictured are (left to right) Isaac Harris, Jaquel Jamison, Justin Spencer, Austin Peterson and Dan Alman, owner of Area 51 Motorsports in Gaffney. When you start talking about mathematics at Mary Bramlett Elementary School, you're just as likely to hear engines revving as you are to hear calculators clicking.

At least, that's the case now that the faculty has embraced a new program they've dubbed, "Math for Boys" that utilizes striking new approaches to get males at the school interested in math.

"We failed to meet our Adequate Yearly Progress goals for 2006 partly because of males not performing in math," said assistant principal Courtney Johns. "So we're taking steps to help with that. We thought that bringing in people from the community and having them talk to the students about how they use math at their jobs would provide a more indepth look at the subject for the boys."

In short, the school is trying to liven up the curriculum to get the young boys more interested. Far removed from the stereotypical females having trouble in mathematics, the school's girls performed well in the subject.

To help bridge the gender gap, four individuals from around Cherokee County addressed the male students Wednesday morning. Dan Alman from Area 51 Motorsports talked about math as it relates to motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Renee Smith, president of Suntrust Bank in Gaffney, spoke about finances. Todd Logan spoke about athletes using math to keep track of statistics and improve performance and Deanna Norris addressed math in her job as an engineer at Magnolia Finishing Plant. The program was organized by Kesha Logan, a Title I parent coordinator for the school district.

"Kesha came to me and asked if I would help out and I said it would be my pleasure," said Alman. "Boys being boys, I knew they'd be interested in dirt bikes and four-wheelers and all kinds of ATVs. Our store opened in August and I've been amazed at the response, especially during the Christmas season. There are, of course, all kinds of engineering questions that involve mathematics when it comes to the vehicles we sell. I've been telling the kids about all those decisions that have to be made about performance during the design phase of the bike. Part of what we did today was design a virtual bike. The boys got to decide if we'd use steel or aluminum and where to use plastic or metal. Also, many of these vehicles and parts are from overseas, where they use the metric system of measurement, so we're always having to do conversions at our shop."

But, Alman didn't stop there. His talk also touched on economics.

"Finally, I explained to the students about the cost of making things overseas versus making them in America," he said. "We discussed the math involved in determining if it was cheaper to build things here or build them in foreign countries and have them shipped here."