Math & Science Education

Course Info

Fall 2011

Undergraduate

Activity Assignments

Presentation Assignments

Written Assignments

Instructor Insights

[Learn] = Chapter 4: How Children Learn and Chapter 6: The Design of Learning Environments.
Polman, Joseph L., and Roy D. Pea. “Transformative Communication as a Cultural Tool for Guided Inquiry.” Science Education 85, no. 3 (2001): 223–38.
[Schooling] = Chapter 1 summary.

Suggested questions to guide reading (PDF)
[Learn] = Mathematics section.
Garfunkel, Sol, and David Mumford. “How to Fix our Math Education,” The New York Times, August 24, 2011.
[Tinkering] = Chapter 1.
Stein, Mary Kay, Margaret Schwan Smith, et al. Excerpts in Implementing Standards-Based Mathematics Instruction: A Casebook for Professional Development. Teachers College Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780807749579.

First blog entry (due Week #6): First observations/Reactions.

You should write five blog entries over the course of the semester. Choose one thing to focus on and write one paragraph. Briefly describe the context for each class you observed (e.g., grade level, subject, topic), and consider one of the following questions: What kinds of activities were the students doing? What kinds of teaching methods did the teacher use? How were these methods effective or ineffective? How were they appropriate or inappropriate for the students that were in the class? What could have been done differently or more effectively in the class?

Lego Pulley Activity: One of the lifts just broke down in a critical area at the Big Dig. It will take a week to repair the lift, and construction must go on. Bags of concrete that weigh 75 pounds each must be lifted from the ground to a platform 100 feet in the air. One of the engineers on the project suggests that they use pulleys to lift the bags onto the platform. Unfortunately, the only suitable weight for the task is 50 pounds. Sketch out a pulley system that will allow them to lift the 75 pound bags of concrete with 50 pound weights.
Instructions for Assessment: Be fair and consider how the scale (1–7) translates into a grade out of 10 points (which is 1/12 of the final grade). Consider the original assignment…Consider the pulley and gear designs that you worked on over the last week. How did you and the other group members attempt to come up with a solution to the problem? If you were not able to come up with a solution, what prevented you from doing so? If you did come up with a solution, how did you arrive at it? What were the intermediate steps and how did you get from one step to another? Present evidence about what your partners were thinking during this process. You should include your own explanations of your understanding of these systems, and your understanding at the end of the experiment. Reference chapter 2 of How People Learn.

Reading guidelines for math education games. (PDF)
Hildebrandt, Carolyn. “Developing Mathematical Understanding Through Invented Games.” Teaching Children Mathematics 5, no. 3 (1998): 191.
Lach, Tisa M., and Lynae E. Sakshaug. “Let’s Do Math: Wanna Play?” Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School 11, no. 4 (2005): 172.
[Tinkering] = Chapter 2.