Fall, 2005  Course Announcement

M175: SEMINAR FOR PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS

Unique Number: 58975

Instructor: M. Smith

Intended audience: Upper division (or graduate) students interested in teaching mathematics in grades 6 - 12 or two-year college.

Prerequisite: Interest in teaching mathematics, upper division  (or graduate) standing,  and consent of instructor. (Instructor may be contacted by email or at 471-6142)
                     
Time: Tu 5:00 – 6:00PM            

Room: RLM 5.114

Topic: Problems with a Point

Course description:  The Problems with a Point website (http://www2.edc.org/MathProblems/),  a project of the Education Development Center,   provides  carefully structured sequences of problems  for 6-12 mathematics "that develop new mathematical ideas in the course of practicing old ones,  … that connect mathematical ideas, and … that develop deeper insight into familiar ideas by revisiting them in unfamiliar ways." In this seminar we will go through some of the problems from this site to build both mathematical and pedagogical understanding of some topics in school mathematics.

Course objectives:
•    To become familiar with the Problems with a Point website a source of class activities
•    To deepen your understanding of some topics in school mathematics
•    To reflect on and discuss aspects of the content (including habits of mind) of school mathematics.

Course format: Students will take turns preparing and leading the class in problems from the Problems with a Point website. We will spend class time working on the problems and discussing them and the mathematics they involve.

Grades: Grades will be based on class participation and class presentations. There will be no exams.