Teachers and other education experts gathered together on a panel to discuss the new Discovery Math Techbook and the state of math education. The panel was called, "Future@Now: A New Math Experience."

“There is no more important job in America than the job of a schoolteacher,” said Tom Perez, U.S. Secretary of Labor, at the event, according to an article on eschoolnews.com. “It’s about showing endless possibilities. It’s about recognizing that different people learn differently, and learning by doing is such an important component of that.”

According to the article, the panel, which was "moderated by Aaron Gilchrist, NBC4 Today Anchor, NBC Washington," included:

• Dr. Mark Edwards, Superintendent, Mooresville Graded School District (NC)
• Dr. Francis “Skip” Fennell, Professor of Education, McDaniel College
• Danica McKellar, Actress and Author
• Michele Weslander-Quaid, Chief Innovation Evangelist, Google
• Portia Wu, Assistant Secretary of Employment and Training Administration, United States Department of Labor

The article then presented "highlights" from the panel discussion.

“I think we’re recognizing a deficiency [in math],” Edwards said. “[We’re] illuminating math in different ways, and students and teachers are both saying, ‘Yes, we can.’ I believe we’re on the cusp of taking a giant leap forward with math in this country.”

According to the article, the panelists said that "changing the culture around math education is one way to encourage students to pursue math-related interests."

“[We have] technology that has the potential to grab kids,” said Fennell. “Along the way, we don’t want to lose the notion that skills are important. The ability for kids to understand that if a problem is good, it’s going to take a little while to solve–that’s OK. That’s good.”

Discovery's Math Techbook, the article said "features interactives, videos, digital tools, and game-like activities aimed at increasing students’ motivation to learn math. Student tools including a graphing calculator, geometry tool, whiteboard tool, and matrix solver are embedded into each Techbook."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor