In order to teach mathematics in powerful and empowering ways, teachers must first learn mathematics in powerful and empowering ways.
Our workshops engage teachers grades 4 – 20 as learners of mathematics and deepen their content knowledge for teaching.
For the first four days, teachers experience a unit of study designed for them as learners and a learning environment that supports deep understanding and positive dispositions toward math.
On the fifth day, teachers reflect on their experience as learners and plan how to take that experience into their own classrooms.
Topics include:
Ratio & Proportional Reasoning
- rates, ratios and unit rates,
- scale and scale factor,
- what it means to reason proportionally,
- connections between proportional relationships, lines and linear relationships,
- the role and importance of clear communication using proper mathematical language and notation.
Rational Numbers
- number theory including order of operations, and properties of number,
- equivalency with fractions, decimals and percent,
- computation with fractions and decimals,
- representing computation with rational numbers geometrically,
- Apply understanding of operations of whole numbers to operations with fractions and decimals,
- the nature of learning and characteristics of an optimal learning environment, and
- ways of assessing mathematical understandings.
Expressions & Equations
- Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to algebraic expressions,
- Reason about and solve one-variable equations and inequalities,
- Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables,
- Use properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions,
- Solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations,
- Work with radicals and integer exponents,
- Understand the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations.
Probability
- theoretical and experimental probability
- diverse models for determining probability (for example: area models, tree diagrams, organized lists, matrices)
- events, possible outcomes, defining and constructing sample space
- Law of Large Numbers
- computation and interpretation of expected value in simple cases
- inductive and deductive reasoning
- mathematically convincing arguments
Data Science
- analyzing data and statistical arguments
- collecting and organizing data as a means of answering questions
- identifying trends in data
- tools to organize, interpret and represent data (for example: box and whisker, stem and leaf, circle graphs, line plots, histograms, scatter plots)
- measures of center, spread and shape
- normal distribution and standard deviation
“As teachers, we sometimes forget how hard learning something new can be. Through these workshops, we were able to experience working hard to solve a problem, feeling frustrated at not reaching understanding yet, having our “aha” moments. Learning math differently and more deeply than I did when I went through school has been extremely valuable for me both as a student and as a teacher of mathematics.”
Middle School Teacher, WA