Discourse

Supporting Sense-making with Mathematical Bet Lines

This article presents an instructional strategy called Mathematical Bet Lines that was designed to promote classroom discourse and sense-making for all students, in particular English Language Learners.  Introduced in Project AIM (All Included in Mathematics), a 40 hour professional development program focused promoting meaningful mathematical discourse, the Mathematical Bet Lines strategy supports comprehension of story problems by having students articulate to themselves and others their predictions regarding what is happening in the problem as it is revealed one sentence a

Author/Presenter

Lara Dick

Tracy Foote White

Aaron Trocki

Paola Sztajn

Daniel Heck

Kate Herrema

Year
2016
Short Description

This article presents an instructional strategy called Mathematical Bet Lines that was designed to promote classroom discourse and sense-making for all students, in particular English Language Learners.

Resource(s)

Launching a Discourse-rich Mathematics Lesson

Facilitating meaningful mathematical discourse is dependent on the launch of the lesson where teachers prepare their students to work on the task.

Author/Presenter

Aaron Trocki

Christine Taylor

Tina Starling

Paola Sztajn

Daniel Heck

Year
2015
Short Description

This article discusses the use of the Think Aloud strategy at the beginning of a lesson to model to students both the type of thinking that develops conceptual understanding, as well as how to share one’s thinking.

Mathematical Argumentation in Middle School—The What, Why, and How

Get them talking: Your formula for bringing math concepts to life!

Author/Presenter

Jennifer Knudsen

Harriette Stevens

Teresa Lara-Meloy

Hee-Joon Kim

Nicole Shechtman

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2017
Short Description

This guide delivers all the tools you need to get serious about mathematical argumentation and bring well-planned, well-constructed mathematical discourse to life in your classroom.

A synthesis of mathematics writing: Assessments, interventions, and surveys

Mathematics standards in the United States describe communication as an essential part of mathematics. One outlet for communication is writing. To understand the mathematics writing of students, we conducted a synthesis to evaluate empirical research about mathematics writing. We identified 29 studies that included a mathematics-writing assessment, intervention, or survey for students in 1st through 12th grade. All studies were published between 1991 and 2015.

Author/Presenter

Sarah Powell

Michael Hebert

Jeremy Cohen

Tutita Casa

Janine Firmender

Year
2017
Short Description

To understand the mathematics writing of students, we conducted a synthesis to evaluate empirical research about mathematics writing. We identified 29 studies that included a mathematics-writing assessment, intervention, or survey for students in 1st through 12th grade. All studies were published between 1991 and 2015.

The Leaders Handbook for the Practicum Academy to Improve Science Education (PRACTISE)

This handbook provides detailed information on how to conduct a series of research-based professional learning sessions focused on helping elementary classroom teachers to facilitate science argumentation with their students. Each session is 2-3 hours long and focuses on topics such as:

Author/Presenter

Emily Weiss

Craig Strang

Year
2017
Short Description

The Practicum Academy to Improve Science Education (PRACTISE) is a professional learning program to support scientific argumentation in grades 3-5. This handbook provides detailed information on how to conduct a series of research-based professional learning sessions focused on helping elementary classroom teachers to facilitate science argumentation with their students.

The Leaders Handbook for the Practicum Academy to Improve Science Education (PRACTISE)

This handbook provides detailed information on how to conduct a series of research-based professional learning sessions focused on helping elementary classroom teachers to facilitate science argumentation with their students. Each session is 2-3 hours long and focuses on topics such as:

Author/Presenter

Emily Weiss

Craig Strang

Year
2017
Short Description

The Practicum Academy to Improve Science Education (PRACTISE) is a professional learning program to support scientific argumentation in grades 3-5. This handbook provides detailed information on how to conduct a series of research-based professional learning sessions focused on helping elementary classroom teachers to facilitate science argumentation with their students.

Teachers Extending Their Knowledge in Online Collaborative Learning Environments: Opportunities and Challenges

STEM Categorization
Day
Fri

Join two projects to discuss the challenges and opportunities afforded through online environments for providing professional development and supporting classroom implementation of mathematical practices.

Date/Time
-

Teams of researchers from Drexel University, Rutgers University, University of Missouri, and the Math Forum have been investigating online environments for math education and math teacher professional learning communities. The Virtual Math Teams project has developed a synchronous, multi-user GeoGebra implementation and studies the learning of small groups as well as the preparation of teachers to facilitate this learning.

Session Types

Preparing Teachers to Support Rich Disciplinary Discussions in Their Classrooms

STEM Categorization
Day
Thu

Learn about pre- or in-service teacher education activities designed to support teacher facilitation of student disciplinary discussions through enactments that illustrate teacher education activities.

Date/Time
-
Session Materials

Often the most we know about our colleagues’ on-the-ground support of teachers is what we read in the methods sections of research articles, or what has been reified many times over in their published teacher learning materials. We rarely get to see, much less experience, one another’s approaches to supporting teachers. This session will open up the black-box of our work with teachers for discussion and scrutiny.

Session Types

Elementary Mathematical Writing Task Force Recommendations: Implications for Research and Classroom Implementation

STEM Categorization
Day
Thu

Learn about types of and purposes for elementary mathematical writing, and discuss implications for research and classroom implementation.

Date/Time
-
Session Materials

Although the mathematics education community long has emphasized the importance of discourse in teaching and learning mathematics, mathematical writing has not been clearly defined. Questions remain about how writing can leverage elementary students’ learning of mathematics. In October 2015, the Elementary Mathematical Writing Task Force came together and recommended four types of writing (exploratory, informative/explanatory, argumentative, and mathematically creative) and their respective purposes.

Session Types

Promoting productive mathematical discourse: Tasks in collaborative digital environments

Powell, A. B., & Alqahtani, M. M. (2015). Promoting productive mathematical discourse: Tasks in collaborative digital environments. In T. G. Bartell, K. N. Bieda, R. T. Putnam, K. Bradfield, & H. Dominguez (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 1246-1249). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

Author/Presenter

Arthur B. Powell

Muteb M. Alqahtani

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2015
Short Description

Tasks can be vehicles for productive mathematical discussions. How to support such discourse in collaborative digital environments is the focus of our theorization and empirical examination of task design that emerges from a larger research project. We present our task design principles that developed through an iterative research design for a project that involves secondary teachers in online courses to learn discursively dynamic geometry by collaborating on construction and problem-solving tasks in a cyber learning environment. In this study, we discuss a task and the collaborative work of a team of teachers to illustrate relationships between the task design and productive mathematical discourse. Implications suggest further investigations into interactions between characteristics of task design and learners mathematical activity.