Student Groups
SDMC's regular-season mathematics program is organized into four ability groups loosely aligned with traditional grade levels as follows:
The Gauss and Cauchy groups are in transitional realignment this year; next season we anticipate the ability groups will be aligned as follows:
Note: SDMC does not "assign" students to specific ability groups. Students must be in at least the fifth grade in school to participate in SDMC; however, once this threshold is met, we encourage students to participate in the ability group that is "right for them". It is not uncommon for ambitious students to participate above their nominal grade level which is perfectly acceptable provided they can do so while still participating productively. It is always acceptible for students to "jump" between groups if they find particular topics in another group particularly interesting. Note that participating above nominal grade level is not just a matter of being able to follow and understand higher level mathematics. Our higher level groups also require that students show higher levels of maturity and responsability in our classrooms. If a student is to "move up" to a higher group, he/she must also "step up" higher expecations for behavior.
A fifth group is the San Diego ARML team, which is not an ability group per se, but is a distinct group competitively selected to represent San Diego at the annual American Regions Math League national competition. This group is formed by invitation only in the spring of each year.
A sixth group that is also not an ability group per se is SDMC's EPGY cluster. This is a network of San Diego area families with young children who associate with SDMC in order to have streamlined access to EPGY's K-8 educational software at a strongly reduced price. This is a home-based approach to math education that SDMC helps to support as a community service.
In addition to SDMC's mathematics program, SDMC supports math-circle-styled learning in physics through the Lagrange group. The Lagrange group meets on Sunday afternoons in order to avoid conflicts with SDMC's regular Saturday morning math programs. Currently there are no specific subdivisions by grade level in the Lagrange group; however, as a general guideline, Lagrange activity requires some focussed physics experience beyond general "physical science" or "integrated science", and unlike SDMC's math activities, calculus is used freely throughout.
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