AMMP is a collaborative effort of school, university, and industry to rehumanize mathematics for secondary students. AMMP engages students as doers and creators of mathematics as they investigate mathematics relevant to their community on small research teams under the guidance of STEM mentors.

In AMMP, students engage in semester-long investigations of applied mathematics questions relevant to their own community. They interact with videos and vignettes in which URM STEM professionals share their personal STEM journey. Through these “windows and mirrors”, AMMP helps students view mathematics as a socially useful endeavor in which their whole person can engage. AMMP is a Gates Grand Challenge for U.S. Education awardee.

AMMP investigations focus on:

  • Grade 7: Heat Islands in Los Angeles
  • Grade 8: The Spread of Covid in Los Angeles
  • Grade 9: Aerospace Endeavors of South LA engineers

 

We would love to partner with you to bring AMMP to your school! Please reach out to find out more!

AMMP INTEREST FORM

In the News

The UCLA Mathematics Department’s We Are Mathematics published an article on the origins of AMMP.

The UCLA Daily Bruin highlighted the experiences of teachers, administrators, and undergraduates in AMMP.

Telemundo covered the culminating event of the inaugural semester of AMMP in three LAUSD South Los Angeles Schools.

Testimonials

AMMP has been my favorite class. I love doing anything physical.

–
Ethan Arriola, AMMP student at William Jefferson Clinton Middle School
Image displays Jeidi Son, AMMP students in Clinton Middle School.

I really love how you’re actually giving us physical materials to work with, and not [materials] from a digital notebook…Also, I love how you guys are giving us websites like Google Earth and Desmos.

–
Jeidi Son, AMMP student at William Jefferson Clinton Middle School
Image displays Dynamite Obinna, SpaceX engineer.

This [program] was something that speaks to our heart…We don’t want [the students] to feel like it is only the top players who do these [type of activities], people who have more resources, but that everyone can do this.

–
Dynamite Obinna, Engineer at Space X

Every single student is engaged. They’re having conversations amongst themselves. When I ask what’s going on, they are able to explain what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. There are some challenges, but I think this is the way to go. We don’t remediate our students. We challenge them.

If AMMP can inform pedagogy in my school then I know I will not be informing just current students but future students for years to come.

–
Travis Holden, Principal at Barack Obama Blobal Preparation Academy
Image displays Julie Resurreccion, teacher at William Jefferson Clinton Middle School

I have to be well planned. I have to be highly organized. I have to be ready…Doing all these activities in my classroom with 30 kids is music to ears when I just get to watch them do all the work. The work that I do happens behind the scenes. When the bell rings, they do all the work. They’re struggling. They’re in cognitive mode. They’re sharing different ideas. They’re trying to figure out their differences. It’s all music to my ears.

–
Julie Resurreccion, AMMP Teacher at William Jefferson Clinton Middle School
Image of Julian Rojas.

As part of our trainings, we had the UCLA undergraduates working alongside the teachers. We have found that to be very impactful for both the teachers and the mentors. They all get a chance to learn a little bit from one another.

–
Julian Rojas, The Curtis Center Secondary Mathematics Specialist 
Image display Lizbeth Arias, undergraduate mentor

AMMP has created a program that is centered around these lives and these kids, their experiences. All these activities are relatable because we are actually collecting data from their schools. We are looking at the temperatures from their neighborhoods, and we are even looking at their neighborhoods through Google Earth. The math we are doing is relatable because they are personally connected to the numbers and the analysis, and I think this is how we grasp their interest and change their mindset.

–
Lizbeth Arias, AMMP Undergraduate Mentor
Image displays Ruben Rodriguez, undergraduate mentor.

It is our job as undergraduate mentors and also as teachers, to try and push them [the students] in the right direction, ask them guiding questions, but to let them struggle because it is supposed to be hard. It is mathematics they haven’t seen before. That struggle in mathematics, learning from your mistakes and growing, that’s the part that really counts. It’s more about the thinking and the process behind it.

–
Ruben Rodriguez, AMMP Undergraduate Mentor

In Collaboration

Image displays The Curtis Center logo.
Image displays the Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy School logo.
Image displays the UCLA Mathematics College of Physical Science logo.
Image displays the Willian Jefferson Clinton Middle School logo.
Image displays the SpaceX logo.
Image displays the Western Avenue T.E.C.H. Magnet School logo.
Image displays the fieldkit logo.

22-23 Yearbook

Image display three female students working calibrating and testing out their group's FieldKit.

Grade 7 students work together to calibrate an environmental sensor as part of the Heat Islands Investigation. Students use several of these sensors to collect data over a three week period to collect and share temperature data for different surface materials found in their community.

The image displays two undergraduate mentors and a teacher working together on the Grade 7 Heat Islands investigation.

During AMMP professional development, UCLA mentors and Clinton Middle School teacher, Julie Resurrecíon, learn to collect data for the Grade 7 Heat Absorption and Emission Lab. In this lab, participants gather information that helps them think about why some LA communities endure more heat than others.

Image displays UCLA undergraduate students working together on an AMMP activity in the Grade 8 Covid investigation.

During AMMP professional development,UCLA mentors and teachers learn to describe the spread of COVID-19 using a modified SIR (susceptible-infectious-recovered) model as part of the Grade 8 Investigation.

Image displays Miguel Garcia-Garibay, dean of Physical Science at UCLA, listening to students present the findings of their research investigations.

Students from Western Ave T.E.C.H.Magnet School present to UCLA’s Dean of Physical Sciences, Miguel García-Garibay, at the 2023 AMMP Community Showcase at Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy.