Hailed as a national authority on training all levels of math teachers, Mary Laycock has been teaching mathematics for 50 years. Ms. Laycock last year was the recipient of the California Award for Excellence in Elementary Mathematics Training. At the Nueva Center for Learning, a private school in San Mateo County where she has taught since 1968, Ms. Laycock challenges her young students to learn mathematical concepts not by rote, but be "seeing and touching." She is credited with creating an environment that provokes questioning and encourages the creation of alternative strategies for discovery.
