Mathematics Matters - Host MEC Content Courses

“MEC’s work with administrators, parents, and the community has been extraordinary. Without all groups on board, my efforts as a teacher would fall flat. With MEC’s help my principal, superintendent and parents are ready to bring about positive change in mathematics education. It is exiting to be a teacher leader in the field of mathematics!”  - 4th Grade Teacher

 

“MEC courses have made me excited about mathematics and sharing strategies and methods with my students. Students’ understanding of the fifth grade curriculum is rapidly increasing!”  - 5th Grade Teacher

 

“My involvement in MEC has given me the opportunity to spend time investigating and constructing deeper understanding of Big Ideas in mathematics.”  - Elementary Teacher

 

 “My classroom practice has improved so much since I began working with MEC. My students are truly engaged with math as I’ve learned to differentiate for all the learners in my classroom. The quality of their work, and their ability to handle work with levels of increasing complexity is unlike anything I have seen in my previous years of teaching.”  - 1st Grade Teacher

 

 
 
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Numerical Reasoning

Developing & Assessing Mathematics Understandings

“When children are given the chance to compute in their own ways, to play with relationships and operations, they see themselves as mathematicians and their understanding deepens.  Such playing with numbers forms the basis for algebra and will take children a long way in being able to compute not only efficiently but elegantly!” Fosnot & Dolk, Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Number Sense, Addition, and Subtraction, pg. 151.

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In MEC’s Numerical Reasoning content course, participants focus on making sense of number relationships as a foundation for success in algebra and beyond. K-20 teachers of mathematics have opportunities to explore their own ways to solve challenging problems, compute, verify and share solutions. They learn to work with numbers in ways that help them support all students in learning to reason mathematically. Participants experience and reflect on the utility and beauty of mathematics.

Participants develop and/or deepen their own mathematical understandings of a range of mathematical ideas, including:   

  •  concepts and properties of the real number system
  • number relationships that build fluency with computation
  • number and computation proficiency – developing a deep understanding of numerous diverse computational algorithms
  • strategies for computing mentally
  •  place value
  •  order of operations
  • properties of primes and composites
  • use of multiple models for equivalency and operations on rational numbers including fractions, decimals and percents
  • mathematically convincing arguments that include geometric and algebraic representations.

The K-20 nature of all MEC courses enables MEC instructors to model differentiated instruction and intervention strategies to meet a wide range of learner needs.

Participants consider how to effectively implement strategies modeled in the course, including:

  • mathematics investigation and inquiry as an integral part of mathematical
  • mathematical learning through problem solving
  • probing student thinking with productive questioning
  • building on student thinking and interactions with peers and teacher
  • creating an optimal learning environment based on the nature of learning
  • differentiation and appropriate interventions
  • effective formative and summative assessment of mathematical understanding that enhances student learning and performance.

Prerequisite: MEC Patterns: Foundations for Algebraic Reasoning course

Audience: teachers, mathematics leaders, math coaches/mentors and university and college faculty