Fundamentals of Middle Grades Mathematics 1

Catalog description

This course develops essential understanding of number and algebra for teaching middle grades mathematics and builds on earlier mathematics courses. MTHED 428 Fundamentals of Middle Grades Mathematics 1 (3) MTHED 428 builds upon experiences in early undergraduate courses to enhance prospective and/or practicing teachers' mathematical knowledge by supporting them to build deep and connected understandings of rational number, ratio, proportion, variable, expressions, and equations and be able to call upon those understandings in order to interpret grades 4-8 students' mathematical understandings. In particular, students in this course will learn that rational number arise as an extension of whole numbers and can be represented in many forms and interpreted as ratios, measures, quotients, operators, and part-whole relationships. Students will also build understandings of equivalence and the mathematical concepts and relationships that underlie previously learned computational algorithms. Students will understand that ratios involve coordinating two quantities and multiplicative relationships, and that a proportion is a statement of equality between two ratios. Students will learn how number concepts in prekindergarten-grade 4 connect to algebra topics in grades 4-8. Topics in this area include different views and uses of variable, the nature of and use of algebraic expressions and how expressions and equations differ, multiple strategies for manipulating and representing algebraic expressions and equations, and how expressions and equations can be used to represent real-world situations. Students will also learn what research has documented about how the concepts of rational number, ratio, proportion, variable, expressions, and equations develop in grades 4-8; the challenges that grades 4-8 learners face in learning this content; connections to previously-learned mathematical content from grades PreK-3; and how grades 4-8 students' understandings of the targeted concepts form essential foundational understandings for mathematical learning in grades 9-12. Students will engage in mathematical reasoning and justification and utilize technological tools appropriate for use in grades 4-8 mathematics.