Function Concept in Secondary School Mathematics

Catalog description

This course develops the concept of function as an essential topic that underlies and connects school and collegiate mathematics. MTHED 433 Function Concept in Secondary School Mathematics (3) Prospective teachers as students need to understand the concept of function deeply as an essential topic of school and collegiate mathematics. In this course, they develop greater facility in using multiple representations and encounter function ideas as they unfold in multiple areas of mathematics, thus extending their understanding of collegiate mathematics and its connection to school mathematics. The students become conversant in current state and national expectations about functions as a mathematical entity. They plan appropriate instruction to develop secondary school student's understanding of function.Intended as an elective for students in Secondary Education/Mathematics Education, the course helps students both to enrich and apply the pedagogical ideas and technology uses from their methods courses and to connect their collegiate mathematics experiences to school curricula. In particular, it helps to build prospective teacher's conceptual understanding of function so that they may draw more strongly on this understanding to engage secondary students in mathematics. Class activities involve use of physical manipulatives and mathematics technology (e.g., spreadsheets, geometry construction environments, and graphing calculators), as appropriate.Students in this course would be expected to complete a major project and paper in addition to weekly assignments, exams, quizzes, and written reflections of classroom participation. Course grades depend on students' performance on all of these measures.