Middle school provides the all-important bridge from elementary math to high school math. And at the end of that bridge stands the critical gateway of algebra. PLATO’s online math curriculum for middle school students helps math students deepen their mathematical understanding while developing the essential algebraic thinking skills needed to succeed in high school algebra. In this important transition phase, having rigorous online lessons that support multiple learning modalities is critical.

By implementing PLATO’s rigorous, engaging online math instruction, teachers can help middle school math students to:

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
• Model with mathematics
• Use appropriate tools strategically
• Attend to precision
• Look for and make use of structure
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Footnote: these the 8 “Standards for Mathematical Practice” called for by the Common Core Standards. http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/mathematics/introduction/standards-for-mathematical-practice/