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Stephanie Brunner, second from right, works with Conner Crutchfield, Bryant Robertson and Alyssa Simmonds, left to right, during an 8th grade math class on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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Stephanie Brunner, second from right, works with Emily Johnson, Corey Isaacs, Jason Alas and Kamae Orton, left to right, during an 8th grade math class on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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Bryant Robertson, Brinn Fagan and Conner Crutchfield, left to right, check their worksheets as their teacher Stephanie Brunner's hand is displayed on a TV monitor during an 8th grade math class on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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Stephanie Brunner, center, works with Emily Johnson, Jason Alas, Kamae Orton and Corey Isaacs, left to right, during an 8th grade math class on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

Spenser Heaps, Daily Herald

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<h3>Leading the way

Stephanie Brunner, second from right, works with Conner Crutchfield, Bryant Robertson and Alyssa Simmonds, left to right, during an 8th grade math class on Tuesday at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi. The school has a highly successful STEM program. Read more at http://bit.ly/1Ocv3i0.

SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald

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As more and more business leaders champion the study of STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — schools in Utah are leading the charge.

Through a Utah STEM Action Center Grant, Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi piloted the Think Through Math program with the school’s 600 eighth-grade students during the 2014-15 school year.

Think Through Math (TTM) is an interactive, computer-based math program that uses personalized instruction to enhance students’ math skills. Stephanie Brunner, a Willowcreek math teacher who worked with those original eighth-graders, was amazed at how much TTM helped her students.

“It really helped them with recall,” Brunner said. “After just one year on the program, the eighth grade showed 20 percent growth on the end-of-the-year testing. That’s very significant.”

Educators, and even the some of the students at Willowcreek, quickly saw the benefit of the TTM program. Before the end of the program’s first year the school obtained more funding to integrate the program for the entire school, from seventh to ninth grade.

In its first year of school-wide adoption, Willowcreek is already seeing the results. Teachers, like Brunner, are integrating their in-class lessons with TTM homework, effectively allowing the students to have multiple opportunities to learn and re-learn.

“It has definitely benefited my students,” Brunner said. “It fills holes in their knowledge base that I don’t necessarily have time to address.”

Though many students say they still don’t like math despite the program, many others are grateful for it nonetheless. Students said they liked being able to do a lesson at their own pace, being able to see what they do wrong in lessons and learning how to fix it. Others cited the games and creating their own avatar as a favorite part.

For some, it’s nice to do math work that isn’t a paper worksheet.

“TTM has helped me by reviewing what I already learned and to clear up anything I didn’t understand,” said Willowcreek student Maddy Smith.

Brunner’s 186 math students alone have already completed more than 1,300 lessons this school year. Those lessons start with an assessment that identifies the holes specific to each student’s math knowledge. The students then work on lessons to improve those skills, while adding to them as well.

TTM’s 30 lessons that build skill upon skill promise that with completion, each student will be on grade level with their math knowledge.

“Everyone — from the students in math labs (a basic skills math class) to the honors kids, and every one in between – is using Think Through Math,” Brunner said.

One feature of the program lauded by the teachers is the live online help available for every student during every lesson. For local teachers who can’t necessarily answer math questions while a student is struggling with homework at 10 p.m. on a weeknight, or parents who have forgotten some of their geometry or algebra skills, the accessible online help is important.

Tyler Morgan, another student at Willowcreek, said having actual teacher help during a lesson is one of his favorite things about the program.

But, of course, it’s math, and though Brunner said the program is making strides to make math reachable for her students, there’s still a ways to go to overcome the “negativity” associated with mathematics. For the many students who like the program, sometimes even their favorite part is when they are done.

“It gave me a head start on things I did not know,” said Willowcreek student Ethan Archibald. “But another thing I like about it is when I do not do it!”