Unit Coordination
Games That Promote Mathematical Thinking, Part 2
Before Christmas our team developed a game to work with students on building the concept of equal size groups. We named the game “The Great Wall.” Students are given the task of building the Great Wall of China for the emperor. They are directed to build sections of the wall, each a certain number of… Continue Reading
Put Me in, Coach
Every once in a while, something will happen at work that makes me miss the classroom and the kids that I taught. It’s like a craving at times, but today I feel more like the athlete on the bench that wants a shot at winning the game. Here I am on the sidelines, wanting to… Continue Reading
Takeaways from Subtraction part 2: To Take Away or Not to Take Away
In my last blog entry, I described three goals suggested by Dr. Les Steffe which support introducing subtraction as take away. Yet, there is a belief among some math teachers that thinking of subtraction as take away interferes with future mathematical development. They argue that using the words “take away” should be eliminated completely from… Continue Reading
What Does it Mean to Coordinate in K-6 Mathematics?
In my last blog entry I talked about laying the foundation for fractions in K-2 by thinking about the standard for measurement 1.MD.2 as foundational for the conceptual understanding of fractions. In this entry, I am going to talk about what it means for a student to coordinate units. The word coordinate, when used as… Continue Reading
Les (Steffe) is More
I am very excited that Dr. Leslie P. Steffe is going to be the speaker at this month’s AIMS colloquia on January 22. The Research Division of the AIMS Center has chosen to deeply study Dr. Steffe’s work so that we can share it with teachers here in the Central San Joaquin Valley. While Dr.… Continue Reading
Top Lessons Learned in 2017
I would like to take a small detour for this entry and use the start of the new year reflect on the previous year. Reflecting on the past as a teacher can help us to think about what we might consider for the future. So what were the top lessons learned at AIMS in 2017?… Continue Reading
Coming in Spring
As the Fall semester comes to a close, we are preparing for Spring at our school sites. Next on the list for our team is fractions. I am so excited to begin working with students to understand how they think about fractions and what we as teachers can do to give them opportunities to increase… Continue Reading
Takeaways from Subtraction (Part 1)
Why is subtraction hard? This question can be heard from many young children, but often even from adults. Whenever adults do mental math, they tend to have an easier time with addition, multiplication, and simple division than with subtraction. For the past three months we have been engaging young children in subtraction situations while considering… Continue Reading
Laying the Foundation for Fractions
This spring, the Coordinating Units team will begin looking into how students develop an understanding of fractions. We have been reading the research in this area done by Dr. Leslie Steffe. In his research with students he theorizes that if students have a fully developed whole number sequence and are able to use it flexibly,… Continue Reading
Games That Promote Mathematical Thinking
A few years ago, I went to a conference where I was able to listen to Keith Devlin, a noted mathematician from Stanford, talk about using technology, particularly computer games, to help students think mathematically. He made the case that the symbols we use to represent mathematics, like numerals, operation signs, etc. create a barrier… Continue Reading
