Mathematics for Elementary Education II

Catalog description

This is the second of two mathematics courses designed for future elementary school teachers. The focus is on understanding ratios, proportional relationships, functions, measurement, geometry, statistics, and probability. This is a mathematics content course. Please note that this is not a teaching methods course, but a course focusing on using, justifying and connecting mathematical concepts. This course employs oral and written communication as both a learning tool and as preparation for handling mathematical questions which arise in elementary school classrooms. Discussion focuses on the deep mathematical reasoning underlying the computational procedures that are usually taught in elementary school. The course explores common misconceptions with preservice teachers, enabling the interpretation of children’s work which might be incorrect, incomplete, or different from adult ways of thinking. Also this course is activity based, providing opportunities for deep, connected learning. It is essential for all teachers of mathematics to understand the reasoning underlying the mathematics they are teaching. They need to understand why various procedures work, how each idea they will be teaching connects with other important ideas in mathematics, and how these ideas develop and become more sophisticated. Three classroom, two lab hours per week.