Upper Elementary Math

Three Things to Keep in Mind:

US Teaching Culture and PracticeProblem Solving as an Instructional ToolBig Math Concepts Need Time and Exploration

US Math Texts and Teaching

Tend toward procedural instruction (TIMSS)

Give more worksheets than most other countries (TIMSS)

Cover too many topics in a given year (breadth rather than depth)

Teachers may be less mathematically versed than in other countries (Ma)

Problem Solving as an Instructional Method

Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching, Magdalene Lampert

Automatically differentiated, if the problem is rich enough

Requires mathematical proof, reasoning, and communication

Ways to do this: word problems (daily book); rich problems (NCTM)

Problem Solving Example from Lesson Study at Highlands

Quick demo on this problem:

0 1/10X

Big Math Concepts that Need Deep Exploration in Early Elementary School

Zero/ place markers in base systems Equals and Equivalence The Many Names for a Number Properties: associative, commutative,

distributive, zero Representations for amounts: number line,

pie graphs, hundred charts, sets, etc. Many more I am sure I have not

explored/discovered

My Favorite Places to Go for More Information

Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching, Magdalene Lampert

Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics, Liping Ma

NCTM Illuminations National Library of Virtual

Manipulatives