Making connections is an important ingredient of mathematics instruction in the middle grades. Why? Students build mathematical knowledge as they see how concepts connect to one another. They increase their appreciation for the importance of mathematics as they realize how mathematics is connected to other subjects and how it is applied in the real world.

This session shows how to help students do the following:

• Connect mathematical ideas
• Use representations to connect mathematical ideas
• Use mathematics to model real phenomena
• See mathematics as a way to understand our world

Instructional programs. . . should enable all students to --

• Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas
• Understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole
• Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics

Principles and Standards of School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000, p. 67). For more information on this process standard, see the NCTM Web site.

  Teaching about connections