Header SNL Logo
 SearchAboutEmail
 AAAS logo
Benchmark Navigator
and  



Send us feedback

Print Benchmark

A. Patterns and Relationships

By the end of 12th grade, students should know that:
  1. Mathematics is the study of any patterns or relationships, whereas natural science is concerned only with those patterns that are relevant to the observable world.

  2. As in other sciences, simplicity is one of the highest values in mathematics.

  3. Theories and applications in mathematical work influence each other.

  4. New mathematics continues to be invented, and connections between different parts of mathematics continue to be found.




B. Mathematics, Science, and Technology

By the end of 12th grade, students should know that:
  1. Mathematical modeling aids in technological design by simulating how a proposed system would theoretically behave.

  2. Mathematics and science as enterprises share many values and features: belief in order, ideals of honesty and openness, the importance of criticism by colleagues, and the essential role played by imagination.

  3. Mathematics provides a precise language for science and technology—to describe objects and events, to characterize relationships between variables, and to argue logically.

  4. Developments in science or technology often stimulate innovations in mathematics by presenting new kinds of problems to be solved.

  5. Developments in mathematics often stimulate innovations in science and technology.




C. Mathematical Inquiry

By the end of 12th grade, students should know that:
  1. Some work in mathematics is much like a game mathematicians choose an interesting set of rules and then play according to those rules to see what can happen.

  2. Much of the work of mathematicians involves a modeling cycle, which consists of three steps: (1) using abstractions to represent things or ideas, (2) manipulating the abstractions according to some logical rules, and (3) checking how well the results match the original things or ideas.