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Ways to Think About Mathematics

Activities and Investigations for Grade 6-12 Teachers

By: Steve Benson, Susan Addington, Nina Arshavsky, Al Cuoco, E. Paul Goldenberg, Eric Karnowski

Engaging in mathematical investigations yourself will help you be a better mathematics teacher!

National, state, and local curriculum requirements and recommendations increasingly emphasize active student involvement in exploratory investigations. This accessible volume uses immersion experiences in algebra, geometry, and statistics to help mathematics teachers improve their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. Funded by the National Science Foundation, and successfully field-tested in a wide variety of settings, the materials emphasize all components of mathematical investigation, focusing on:

Mathematical ways of thinking
Discovering connections between mathematical ideas
Posing and analyzing problems
Linking higher-level mathematics to the content in grades 6-12

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Product Details

Grade Level: 6-12
ISBN: 9780761931058
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2004
Page Count: 264
Publication date: October 05, 2004

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Description

Engaging in mathematical investigations yourself will help you be a better mathematics teacher!

National, state, and local curriculum requirements and recommendations increasingly emphasize active student involvement in exploratory investigations. Teachers now face new demands when they field unexpected student discoveries, determine when some open-ended activity has played out its usefulness or is just on the verge of paying off in a major way, and judge which student-initiated directions are likely to lead to development of important mathematical ideas and which are dead ends. These pedagogical judgments depend heavily on deep mathematical knowledge.

Ways to Think About Mathematics uses immersion experiences in algebra, geometry, and statistics to help mathematics teachers improve their knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts. By experiencing open-ended problems, making and checking conjectures, and evaluating problem solving strategies, every math teacher can become better prepared to deal with day-to-day classroom decisions.

Funded by the National Science Foundation and successfully field-tested in a wide variety of professional development and preservice settings, the materials in this book integrate mathematical thinking, effective teaching practices, and explicit connections to exemplary curricula. Because it is aligned with the principles and standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics but is not fixed to any single curriculum, the materials in this book can be aligned with any state or district standards.

Emphasizing all components of mathematical investigation, this accessible volume focuses on:

Mathematical ways of thinking
Discovering connections between mathematical ideas
Posing and analyzing problems
Making, modifying, testing, and proving conjectures
Linking higher level mathematics to the content of grade 6-12 classrooms

Ways to Think About Mathematics gives teachers the opportunity to grow as learners and teachers of mathematics by including problems for teachers to explore as well as selected "Problems for the Classroom" for the classes they teach.

See Facilitator's Guide to Ways to Think About Mathematics

Key features

· Modules have been extensively field tested

· Very few, if any, professional development materials in math that focus so deeply on content.

· Includes solutions to the math problems

· Full of multiple problems to illustrate concepts and ways of thinking

· Extensive marginal notes to help teachers work through the problems

· Includes problems appropriate for teachers to use with their secondary mathematics students.

Author(s)

Steve Benson

Steven R. Benson is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he teaches a variety of mathematics content courses for traditional undergraduate students and in-service mathematics teachers. Before joining the Lesley faculty, Dr. Benson was a Research Scientist at Education Development Center, Inc., where he was involved in a wide variety of projects, most of which involved the development of curricula for mathematics students and teachers. He has also facilitated preservice and in-service teacher professional development workshops across the U.S. and internationally (including serving as consultant to the Ministry of Education in Azerbaijan), directed a research project investigating the genesis and development of mathematical talent in Mathematical Olympians, and edited the problem calendar section of the Mathematics Teacher journal published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Prior to joining the EDC staff in June 2000, he held mathematics faculty positions at St. Olaf College, Santa Clara University, University of New Hampshire, and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and is currently a co-director of the Master of Science for Teachers program at the University of New Hampshire. He received his PhD from the University of Illinois, working under the direction of Leon McCulloh in algebraic number theory.

Susan Addington

Susan Addington is a professor of Mathematics at California State University,San Bernardino. Though her doctoral work was in arithmetic algebraic geometry (a field that includes almost every mathematical area except statistics),she now spends most of her time thinking about math education. Her educational interests include teacher preparation (elementary through college), ethnomathematics, and the use of technology to teach traditionally difficult ideas. Susan is married to David Dennis, a math educator, historian of mathematics, jazz saxophonist, and virtuoso gardener.

Nina Arshavsky

Nina P.Arshavsky is a Math Coach at Boston Public Schools, providing professional development to high school math teachers. She received her doctoral degree in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught mathematics in middle and high schools in both Russia and the US. Dr. Arshavsky worked on a variety of research, professional development, and curriculum development projects in the Center for Mathematics Education at EDC and is a co-author of Impact Mathematics: Algebra and More for the Middle Grades, a comprehensive 6-8 mathematics curriculum. She has published and presented numerous research papers, and has taught college courses in cognitive development and human development in infancy and early childhood.

Al Cuoco

Al Cuoco is Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Mathematics Education at Education Development Center. Before coming to EDC, he taught high school mathematics for 24 years to a wide range of students in the Woburn, Massachusetts public schools. A student of Ralph Greenberg, Dr. Cuoco received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Brandeis; his mathematical interests and publications have been in algebraic number theory. His favorite publication is his 1991 article in the American Mathematical Monthly, described by his wife as “an attempt to explain a number system no one understands with a picture no one can see.”

E. Paul Goldenberg

E. Paul Goldenberg is a Senior Scientist and the Principal Investigator of three recent NSF-funded projects: Connecting with Mathematics, materials for teacher professional development programs; Problems with a Point,a Web-accessible, searchable database of orchestrated problem sets; and Math Workshop: A Comprehensive Elementary Curriculum for Skill, Mathematical Ability, and Real Thinking, a project that will develop materials for a K-5 comprehensive mathematics curriculum that promotes rather than requires professional development. He was previously PI on the Connected Geometry curriculum development project, and of a 3-year,NSF-funded research project into the nature of learning with geometry software. He has over 35 years of experience in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary teaching, teacher enhancement, and education research. He is widely published and has conducted workshops and seminars on a variety of topics in mathematics education.

Eric Karnowski

Eric Karnowski is a senior mathematics associate at Education Development Center (EDC) in Massachusetts. He has worked in mathematics education for 25 years, initially as a teacher, then as a textbook editor, and finally as a curriculum developer and teacher professional development provider. Since joining EDC, he has directed the development of the K–5 program Think Math! and written numerous activities for the award-winning Problems with a Point website. He directed projects to develop several online teacher professional development courses for PBS TeacherLine, Louisiana Algebra 1 Online Professional Development, and most recently, the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards in both mathematics and science. In addition, he was a contributing author on Ways to Think about Mathematics and the MathScape curriculum.

Prior to joining EDC, Karnowski had the distinct privilege to edit influential secondary textbooks for Janson Publications and Everyday Learning, including Contemporary Mathematics in Context by the Core-Plus Mathematics Project, Contemporary Calculus by the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and Impact Mathematics by EDC. He received a B.S. in Liberal Arts (honors mathematics) and an M.S. in Mathematics, both from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He currently lives in Boston with his husband, Mark, and two large cats, Endora and Tabitha.

Table of Contents

Preface

About the Authors

1. What is Mathematical Investigation?

2. Dissections and Area

3. Linearity and Proportional Reasoning

4. Pythagoras and Cousins

5. Pascal's Revenge: Combinatorial Algebra

6. Problems for the Classroom

Resource: Answers for Selected Problems

Index

Reviews

"This is a powerful teaching methodology that is bound to convey the spirit of problem-solving."

MAA Reviews, June 2006
Mathematical Association of America

Other Titles in: Mathematics | Staff Development & Professional Learning | Teaching Methods & Learning Styles

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