About the Workshops

Synopses

Click on the links below for videos and transcripts.

Workshop 1 – Following Children's Ideas in Mathematics

An unprecedented long-term study conducted by researchers at Rutgers University followed the development of mathematical thinking in a randomly selected group of students for 12 years — from 1st grade through high school — with surprising results. In an overview of the study, we look at some of the conditions that made their math achievement possible.

Workshop 2 – Are You Convinced?

Proof making is one of the key ideas in mathematics. Looking at teachers and students grappling with the same problem, we see how two kinds of proof — proof by cases and proof by induction — naturally grow out of the need to justify and convince others.

  
Workshop 3 – Inventing Notations

We learn how to foster and appreciate students' notations for their richness and creativity, and we look at some of the possibilities that early work on problems that engage students in creating notation systems might open up for students as they move on toward algebra.

Workshop 4 – Thinking Like a Mathematician

What does a mathematician do? What does it mean to "think like a mathematician"? This program parallels what a mathematician does in real-life with the creative thinking of students.

 

Workshop 5 – Building on Useful Ideas

 

One of the strands of the Rutgers long-term study was to find out how useful ideas spread through a community of learners and evolve over time. Here, the focus is on the teacher's role in fostering thoughtful mathematics.

Workshop 6 – Possibilities of Real Life Problems

Students come up with a surprising array of strategies and representations to build their understanding of a real-life calculus problem — before they have ever taken calculus.

 

Workshop 7 – Next Steps (required for those seeking graduate credit)

Participants will review key ideas presented during the workshops and will consider implications for their own teaching.

Note: There is no video component for Workshop 7.

Next > Structure