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  • Algebraic Thinking in the Elementary School (Winter 2010)
    This course requires an enrollment key
    This workshop provides teachers of grades 3 through 5 with an opportunity to explore how activities that foster algebraic thinking can be integrated into the elementary classroom. Algebraic thinking consists of more than just learning how to solve for the variables x and y; it helps students think about mathematics at an abstract level, and provides them with a way to reason about real-life problems. In this course, participants will explore three components of algebraic thinking: making generalizations, thinking about the equals sign, and being able to reason about unknown quantities. As participants stretch their own algebraic reasoning skills, they will also spend considerable time thinking about how to integrate algebraic tasks into their own classroom instruction. This course uses readings, video, online discussion boards, a final project, and engaging mathematics problems to promote the idea that the incorporation of algebraic thinking tasks in elementary school mathematics is critical to students' future success.
  • Differentiating Instruction to Accommodate Learning Styles (Winter 2010)
    This course requires an enrollment key

    Addressing the individual learning styles of students can be a challenge for teachers. The World Wide Web contains a vast number of resources to assist teachers in understanding and planning for the different avenues through which students learn best. Participants in this workshop will review a range of web sites providing information about learning theory related to learning styles and multiple intelligences, as well as resources to assist teachers in both identifying students' learning styles and intelligences and engaging students in activities which best suit those styles and intelligences. Participants will become familiar with teaching strategies and tools targeted for each learning style and intelligence and develop a preliminary lesson plan using those strategies and tools.

  • Using Real Data in the Math Classroom (Spring 2010)
    This course requires an enrollment key

    Real-world data are a glimpse into a complex story that involves much more detail than the numbers would suggest. We want students to look ?behind the scenes? by organizing, representing and analyzing these data. Technology is central to this task, both as a source of data and as a tool for data analysis. Technology tools and web-based materials provide important ways for math educators to meet key NCTM and ISTE standards that emphasize problem solving and making connections between mathematics, other disciplines and the real world. These standards include a significant emphasis on representing and analyzing data, including a focus on being able to evaluate the sources of data and the effectiveness of different representations that students will encounter both inside and out of school. This workshop will explore a range of web-based resources and exemplary projects which utilize technology to support these goals. Participants will learn how to find sources of real data on the Web and explore how technology tools such as spreadsheets can help students analyze, visualize and make sense of these data. Participants will complete the workshop with a collection of resources and beginning project ideas that serve their curricular goals.