As the emergence of a new global economy continues to drive wholesale instructional changes in the nation's classrooms, the demand for solutions designed to teach higher-level mathematics concepts such as calculus and engineering is growing.

With President Bush making math and science instruction a point of emphasis in his State of the Union address and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings calling on schools to "raise the bar" on math instruction, K-12 institutions are looking for ways to help students understand--and even appreciate--tough math concepts.

And it's technology, not textbooks, many experts say, that will make much of this transformation possible--along with a shift in teaching strategies and an emphasis on professional development.

"Used well, technology can open the door to mathematics for more students than it ever has in the past," said Cathy Seeley, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

With that thought in mind, NCTM recently teamed up with executives at Texas Instruments (TI) and producers for the hit CBS television drama Numb3rs to launch a new classroom companion web site and curriculum based on topics discussed during the show, which features a mathematician who employs complex theories to help the FBI solve crimes.

The idea, according to TI's Linda Beheler, is to take what students often see as abstract mathematical concepts and make them more relevant to their daily lives. The television show, she said, serves as an example of how math is used every day to solve real-world problems.

"We always get the same question," said Beheler. "Students always want to know, "How are we ever going to use this stuff in the real world?'" And that's the idea behind the Numb3rs initiative--"to show them how these [concepts] apply to what they do in life."

Mathematicians and educators from NCTM are working with the show's writers and producers to develop lesson plans and activities centered on the different mathematical concepts encountered during each episode. Topics touched on already this season include continued fractions, Benford's Law, probability, direct variation, ellipses, and randomization.

Before each episode airs, teachers, students, and parents can go the Number3s web site and download the corresponding activities, giving them an opportunity to play along with investigators as the characters try each week to solve a new crime. Students then return to class prepared to talk about the concepts used during the show; teachers, in turn, provide corresponding problem sets to reinforce the topics. The activities from each episode remain on the site throughout the entire season, so teachers can return to them and use them as they deem fit, Beheler said.

The activities also are designed to integrate well with TI's handheld Navigator and graphing calculator products, she said, giving educators another opportunity to integrate technology into the learning process.