Teaching and Learning Rational Numbers and Proportional Reasoning

Catalog description

This course provides an in-depth study of the content and pedagogy for understanding rational numbers and proportional reasoning. Content includes a variety of situations involving proportions, for example, real-world problems involving ratios, rates, and percents; geometry involving similarity; algebra involving linearity; and probability involving assigning a probability to an event. Distinguishing proportional situations from those that are not and reasoning proportionally in appropriate situations are emphasized. Emphasis is placed on children’s cognitive development of rational numbers and proportional reasoning, and the instructional, curricular, and assessment implications for teaching. The course includes the NCTM Principles of problem solving, reasoning and proof, connections, communication, and multiple representations and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Practices.