Our Philosophy

At eMathInstruction we believe in open-source, collaborative lesson design. We know that our Version 1.0 of any e-text will not be perfect. But, because it is an e-text, and not a traditional hardbound text, it can be perfected. We encourage, plead, it wouldn't even be going overboard to say that we beg our users to give us feedback on the individual lessons and overall flow of the e-text. Through this feedback loop, we can modify an e-text each and every year it is in use to make it more perfect.

By using a cohesive and shared set of lessons amongst many teachers around New York state and the country, we can decide on which lessons are too long and which are too short. Which introductory exercises are too abrupt or not motivated? And which nail the flow perfectly. We seek to tell a story of mathematics in these e-texts that will put individual topics into a broader context, a more cohesive one that forms greater understanding and retention.

Each e-text that we create at eMathInstruction has been carefully designed using the Understanding by Design methodology of Wiggins and McTighe (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998). By designing our curriculum backwards, we first decide on what enduring understandings we want each student to develop in a given unit. Then, we ask the essential questions to bring that knowledge out of them, involving them in both the answering and the asking of these questions. Essential skills and knowledge are then developed in a Socratic method discussion of scaffold-ed exercises.

eMathInstruction is a company that was born of the 21st century. The company was founded by Kirk Weiler, the editor-in-chief of the Arlington Algebra Project . The Arlington Algebra Project was a collaborative project amongst 26 middle school and high school math teachers to create an e-text for the New York State Integrated Algebra 1 course. This e-text is currently being used in the Arlington Central School district for all Algebra 1 students (approximately 700 per year). Since it was offered online for free in August of 2008, its webpage has been hit over 12,000 times.

eMathInstruction is offering its initial e-text, Algebra 2 with Trigonometry Version 1.0, for free download and use by any teacher or school district in need of a quality resource that can supplement or replace a hardbound textbook. It is in the spirit of open-source code that we make this offering, believing that through open discussion of shared lessons, the lessons can be made better over time. It is the intent of eMathInstruction to continue to distribute Version 1.0 of all our future e-texts for free. We do encourage users to support eMathInstruction's viability as a company by purchasing the answer keys, the unit reviews, and other supplementary materials. We also offer workbook copies of the e-text.