Citizenship as a Rationale for a Mathematics Education

Our society is in a time of flux - which implores us to reflect on and consider the purposes of a mathematics education in contributing to our students' individual lives and society more generally. What are the goals? Toward what meaningful ends do we require students to invest hours of their time? In this session, we examine some of these questions, and then explore more deeply some of the mathematics of citizenship.

About the speaker

Megan Staples is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. She has a strong interest in making classrooms meaningful places for students - which includes understanding classroom interactions, supporting students' voices, and examining the purposes of mathematics education.

Facilitating Emergent Multilingual Students' Access and Agency in Mathematics Class

Students who are emergent multilingual -- that is, those identified as English learners by their districts -- take on learning both language and mathematics in mathematics class. They bring many resources and strengths to their mathematics learning experiences. As educators, we must ensure that our lessons are designed to highlight and build on those strengths. In this session, we will explore the role that mathematical diagrams can play in supporting both problem solving and communication, and how other strategies can be weaved into mathematics lessons in ways that support students' language use. Examples will be drawn from grade 6 lessons focused on fraction division, and will include teacher and student perspectives on these lessons.

About the speakers

Johannah Nikula is a Senior Project Director and Jill Neumayer DePiper is a Research Scientist at Education Development Center (EDC) in Massachusetts. They lead NSF- and IES- funded projects to develop and study resources for mathematics teachers who have emergent multilingual students in their classes. Their work involves strong collaboration with teachers and an emphasis on supporting opportunities for all students, and in particular emergent multilingual learners, to engage in mathematical thinking and communication. They are co-authors of the book Mathematical Thinking and Communication: Access for English Learners.

Creating Classrooms Where All Students are Thinking and Reasoning Mathematically

Our students face a world full of seemingly intractable problems, and so it is critical that each and every one of them develops into powerful math thinkers. This will no doubt mean changing some of our current teaching practices as we place more emphasis on mathematical thinking, step out of the middle of classroom interactions and ensure that student struggle is productive. In this session, we’ll engage with five essential teaching strategies that promote critical instructional shifts needed to teach all students to think and reason mathematically. We will also discuss implementing the strategies in remote settings.

About the speaker

Grace Kelemanik, co-founder of Fostering Math Practices, has more than 30 years of mathematics education experience. A frequent presenter at national conferences, her work focuses on fostering mathematical thinking practices in all students. She is a former urban high school mathematics teacher and Project Director at Education Development Center. Grace has also worked extensively with new and preservice teachers through the Boston Teacher Residency program. Grace is the coauthor of Routines for Reasoning: Fostering the Mathematical Practices in All Students. She is a mathematics education consultant and professional development provider. Follow Grace on Twitter @GraceKelemanik

Babylonian and Arab Roots of Algebra

Millennia before the creation of algebraic notation, people were solving problems "algebraically" (often using geometry). In this workshop, we will start with a geometric "algorithm" for approximating square roots, then expand the algorithm and devise other methods for solving general quadratic equations.

About the speaker

Steve Benson is a Professor of Mathematics at Lesley University. He earned a PhD in Mathematics under the direction of Leon McCulloh at the University of Illinois and has taught at St. Olaf College, Santa Clara University, University of New Hampshire, and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; and spent seven years working on research, curriculum, and professional development facilitation at Education Development Center. He has also been a co-Director of the Master of Science for Teachers program at the University of New Hampshire since 1997. His professional interests are Number Theory, Problem Solving, Mathematics History, and the preparation and professional development of mathematics teachers. He is a co-author of Ways to Think About Mathematics: Activities and Investigations for Grade 6-12 teachers (Corwin), and Accessible Algebra: 30 Modules to Promote Algebraic Reasoning, Grades 7-10 (Stenhouse).