This exciting text for the pre-service elementary teacher provides hands on mathematics lessons they can use to introduce mathematical concepts and skills that students find particularly challenging. Each chapter is divided into four sections: The Activity employs an engaging thought experiment to help the reader "visit a classroom" to understand how the lesson used to introduce the concept or skill would materialize in the class. The Mathematics provides the necessary mathematical background used in the lesson to make the actual teaching/learning situation comfortable for both the teachers and the learner. The Plan provides the reader with an actual lesson plan to engage the Activity in the classroom setting. Putting It All Together pulls the previous sections together with a summary of the chapter as well as further information for making the lesson successful. By providing models of what excellent lessons on a given topic look like, knowledge of the mathematics involved, and a concrete lesson plan structure this much-needed resource is the definitive mathematics planning vehicle that every teacher will want before they set foot in their own elementary classroom.

Transform mathematics learning from “doing” to “thinking” American students are losing ground in the global mathematical environment. What many of them lack is numeracy—the ability to think through the math and apply it outside of the classroom. Referencing the new common core and NCTM standards, the authors outline nine critical thinking habits that foster numeracy and show you how to: Monitor and repair students’ understanding Guide students to recognize patterns Encourage questioning for understanding Develop students’ mathematics vocabulary Included are several numeracy-rich lesson plans, complete with clear directions and student handouts.

A thinking student is an engaged student Teachers often find it difficult to implement lessons that help students go beyond rote memorization and repetitive calculations. In fact, institutional norms and habits that permeate all classrooms can actually be enabling "non-thinking" student behavior. Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K–12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur. This guide Provides the what, why, and how of each practice and answers teachers’ most frequently asked questions Includes firsthand accounts of how these practices foster thinking through teacher and student interviews and student work samples Offers a plethora of macro moves, micro moves, and rich tasks to get started Organizes the 14 practices into four toolkits that can be implemented in order and built on throughout the year When combined, these unique research-based practices create the optimal conditions for learner-centered, student-owned deep mathematical thinking and learning, and have the power to transform mathematics classrooms like never before.

With the publication of the National Science Education Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, a clear set of goals and guidelines for achieving literacy in mathematics and science was established. Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs has been developed to help state- and district-level education leaders create coherent, multi-year curriculum programs that provide students with opportunities to learn both mathematics and science in a connected and cumulative way throughout their schooling. Researchers have confirmed that as U.S. students move through the grade levels, they slip further and further behind students of other nations in mathematics and science achievement. Experts now believe that U.S. student performance is hindered by the lack of coherence in the mathematics and science curricula in many American schools. By structuring curriculum programs that capitalize on what students have already learned, the new concepts and processes that they can learn will be richer, more complex, and at a higher level. Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs outlines: Components of effective mathematics and science programs. Criteria by which these components can be judged. A process for developing curriculum that is structured, focused, and coherent. Perhaps most important, this book emphasizes the need for designing curricula across the entire 13-year span that our children spend in elementary and secondary school as a way to improve the quality of education. Ultimately, it will help state and district educators use national and state standards to design or re-build mathematics and science curriculum programs that develop new ideas and skills based on earlier onesâ€"from lesson to lesson, unit to unit, year to year. Anyone responsible for designing or influencing mathematics or science curriculum programs will find this guide valuable.

This book addresses college students' weak foundation in algebra, its causes, and potential solutions to improve their long-term success and understanding in mathematics as a whole. The authors, who are experts in a wide variety of fields, emphasize that these difficulties are more complex than just forgotten rules, and offer strategic approaches from a number of angles that will increase the chances of student understanding. Instructors who are frustrated with their students’ lack of skills and knowledge at college level will find this volume helpful, as the authors confront the deeper reasons why students have difficulties with Algebra and reveal how to remedy the issue.

Curriculum standards for mathematics for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 are presented which suggest areas of instructional emphasis for specific student outcomes. Also discusses evaluation standards for both the curriculum and student achievement. K-12.

How do you get a fourth-grader excited about history? How do you even begin to persuade high school students that mathematical functions are relevant to their everyday lives? In this volume, practical questions that confront every classroom teacher are addressed using the latest exciting research on cognition, teaching, and learning. How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom builds on the discoveries detailed in the bestselling How People Learn. Now, these findings are presented in a way that teachers can use immediately, to revitalize their work in the classroom for even greater effectiveness. Organized for utility, the book explores how the principles of learning can be applied in teaching history, science, and math topics at three levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Leading educators explain in detail how they developed successful curricula and teaching approaches, presenting strategies that serve as models for curriculum development and classroom instruction. Their recounting of personal teaching experiences lends strength and warmth to this volume. The book explores the importance of balancing students' knowledge of historical fact against their understanding of concepts, such as change and cause, and their skills in assessing historical accounts. It discusses how to build straightforward science experiments into true understanding of scientific principles. And it shows how to overcome the difficulties in teaching math to generate real insight and reasoning in math students. It also features illustrated suggestions for classroom activities. How Students Learn offers a highly useful blend of principle and practice. It will be important not only to teachers, administrators, curriculum designers, and teacher educators, but also to parents and the larger community concerned about children's education.

This book is the result of a unique experience: a research mathematician teaching in an elementary school. It tells about a fascinating discovery made by the author — that elementary mathematics has a lot of depth and beauty, and that the secret to its teaching is in understanding its deep points.The first part of the book discusses the nature of mathematics and its beauty. The second part tells about the teaching principles the author distilled from his experience. The third part is an excursion through the arithmetic studied in elementary school, accompanied by personal stories, historical anecdotes and teaching suggestions. The appendix relates the fascinating story of modern day politics of mathematical education.The book was a bestseller in Israel, and has been translated into many languages. The extraordinary combination of mathematical and didactic insights makes it an essential guide for parents and teachers alike.

Studies of teachers in the U.S. often document insufficient subject matter knowledge in mathematics. Yet, these studies give few examples of the knowledge teachers need to support teaching, particularly the kind of teaching demanded by recent reforms in mathematics education. Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics describes the nature and development of the knowledge that elementary teachers need to become accomplished mathematics teachers, and suggests why such knowledge seems more common in China than in the United States, despite the fact that Chinese teachers have less formal education than their U.S. counterparts. The anniversary edition of this bestselling volume includes the original studies that compare U.S and Chinese elementary school teachers’ mathematical understanding and offers a powerful framework for grasping the mathematical content necessary to understand and develop the thinking of school children. Highlighting notable changes in the field and the author’s work, this new edition includes an updated preface, introduction, and key journal articles that frame and contextualize this seminal work.