The Farragut High School Math Lab officially opened in January 1996. It consists of 32 student stations, a projection station and two teacher work stations.




The lab is used to enhance the teaching of mathematics at all levels.

The administration of Farragut High School wisely determined that the math lab be planned and administered by certified math teachers with computer skills. The math lab was planned, constructed and equipped by math teachers John Beckett and Bill Parker. When the lab opened for use in 1996 Bill Parker assumed duties as assistant principal and Leslie Howe became a math lab corrdinator along with John Beckett. Each of these teachers administered the lab for two periods a day and taught one conventional class. The two consulted with members of the math department and worked to create activites for students of every level. John prepared many Mathematica notebooks and Leslie Howe prepared interactive software. Teachers and students both appreciated the instantaneous feedback, the visualization of concepts and the alternative assement capabilities of the computers. Classroom teachers signed up in advance to bring their classes to the computer lab. Activities were planned with the math lab coordinator. Sometimes the teacher elected to direct the lab activity himself or delegate the direction of the activity to the lab coordinator. Both teachers assisted students on a one-to-one basis.

When Mr. Beckett requested to be assigned conventional classes rather than lab duties it was decided that a variety of teachers should be given the opportunty to learn about the administration of the lab. Daniel Waters, Lesley Smith, Pat Stallings, and Gayle Santich have worked at times as lab coordinators and have become familiar with the network and available activities.

Currently all math teachers are required to teach conventional classes. They cannot be released from classes to maintain and advance the use of the computer lab. Fortunately the past experiences and teacher training are making it possible for the lab to continue even though new activities cannot be developed because of the lack of the released time. Teachers have donated personal time to help maintain the facility but this cannot go on indefinitely. Hopefully this situation will be remedied if funding can be found before the facility deteriorates. .

A variety of software has been used for these lab activities. Most materials used for introductory courses have been prepared by Leslie Howe, Howe_Two Software. It is used for monitored practice, visualization and exploration. Purchased software includes: Mathematica®, Cabri , and Excel® . Occasionally Peanut Software (free software written by Rick Parris of Phillips Exeter Academy) is used for lab investigations. Tesselmania is used to explore transformational geometry. Software written in Visual Basic® created at Farragut High School in the pilot course entitled Software Design which is taught by Leslie Howe is also used in the Math Lab. The lab coordinators are constantly looking for ways to enhance education using technology, while maintaining the physical lab, the network and planned activities for the department.

Visitors from other systems
are Welcome!

Standing on the shoulders of giants:
Pascal, Leibnitz, Napier, Jacquard, Babbage, Boole, Hollerith and many more. See Mathlinks for Computer History sites.