M377Z COURSE GUIDE—SPRING 2000
Mathematics: Monday’s and Wednesday’s, 1 PM - 2:20 PM, HGH 227
Fridays, 1 PM – 2:20 PM, HGH 204 OR a local elementary School site.
INSTRUCTOR
Dale Oliver
TEXTBOOK
Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers
By Bassarear
Be aware that I will supplement our textbook substantially. Make sure you
receive a copy of all supporting materials throughout the semester.
THE NATURE OF THE MATH 377 SERIES
These courses are mathematics courses blended with exposure to and brief experiences with teaching
mathematics in the elementary classroom. The primary goal of these courses is to improve, broaden, and
deepen your facility with, appreciation for, and understanding of mathematics. The secondary goal is to
help you to begin applying your strengthened mathematical understanding to the practice of teaching.
Teaching elementary mathematics is anything but elementary. There are deep and significant
mathematical ideas involved, and many subtleties in the development of elementary school students
understanding of these ideas. Therefore, the Math 377 courses are primarily about the mathematics that
teachers need to know to teach well. Just as in any other subject, this required knowledge is much
deeper and extends much further than the topics taught in elementary schools. Thus, the topics of the
courses support and extend the content expectations set forth by the California Content Standards in
Mathematics, K-7 (February 1998).
The Math 377 courses are not primarily about “The mathematics that kids need to know” or “methods
for teaching elementary school mathematics.” However, what we teach and how we teach in
mathematics in the primary, elementary, and middle grades will naturally be part of our classroom
discussions.
There is a significant writing component in these courses in which mathematical work is carefully
organized, described, and analyzed. Writing in mathematics is a means to stimulate greater
understanding, communication, and creativity in the subject area. The writing portions of assignments
will also start you on your way to making the transition from learner to teacher in mathematics.
COURSE EXPECTATIONS
In this course you will engage in a wide variety of situations and contexts which give rise to the
mathematical concepts essential for K-8 teaching. These concepts are significant in the mathematical
world, so you should expect to find this a challenging college-level mathematics course.
In class, we will often work in collaborative groups of 3 or 4 to stimulate dialogue between "hands-on"
activity (physical activity with blocks, sticks, dice, paper, chips, etc.) and systematic inquiry (using
physical and linguistic tools to communicate understanding, justify your thinking, and pose new
problems). In your work outside of class, you may collaborate in groups of any size that you find
productive, but you must turn in a personal report for each assignment.
The best way to insure your successful completion of this course is to come to class and keep up with
the assignments! This is particularly important for our Friday Sessions when we may have guest
speakers from the professional community or when you may have assignments in the classrooms of local
teachers. We will try to arrange reasonable carpools to these off-campus sites, but ultimately it is your
responsibility to arrange transportation to these off-site sessions. You will be given plenty of advanced
warning, and all off-site meetings will be no further from campus than Eureka or McKinleyville – both
of which are serviced by the Humboldt Transit Authority.
If you must miss a class, please leave a message on my answering machine (826-4921) prior to class
time and be sure to contact a classmate to find out what you missed.
COURSE CONTENT (Tentative schedule):
The Tuesday and Thursday meetings of the course are primarily focused on mathematics. The Friday
meetings, which may be held at Humboldt or in a local elementary classroom, are primarily focused on
the mathematical education of children.
The mathematics that we study is organized to enable you to build an advanced perspective on the
mathematical ideas found in the California Academic Content Standards for grades K-7. These
standards are organized into five mathematical areas: Number Sense, Algebra and Functions,
Mathematical Reasoning, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics, Data, and Probability. In Math
377Y we focus on Number Sense, Algebra and Functions, and Mathematical Reasoning. In Math 377Z
we focus on Mathematical Reasoning, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics, Data, and
Probability.
Here is a tentative schedule for the course:
Dates
Topics
Related Textbook Chapters
January 19 – January 26
Proportional Reasoning
Chapters 6
January 28 – February 18
Statistics, Data and Probability
Chapter 7
February 21 – March 15
Geometry as Shape
Chapter 8
March 20 – April 12
Geometry as Motion
Chapter 9
Measurement
Chapter 10
April 17 – May 5
EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT:
40%
Weekly Assignments.
There will be 10 main assignments given during the semester. Assignments are typically due on
Mondays. Assignments may include exercises from the text, extended problems of the week,
reflections on observations of an elementary mathematics lesson, and explanations to the “Why?”
questions of elementary mathematics. Expect to see more questions related to reasoning this
semester, and more written responses to questions about your mathematical understandings.
These assignments are significant pieces of work. Expect to spend 5 hours at a minimum for each.
It is highly likely that if you leave these assignments until the day before they are due, you will
experience much frustration and little success. An “hour-a-day” approach is much more efficient for
doing mathematical work.
Each assignment will have it’s own point value. Each will be graded with a ratio of point earned to
total point value. The smallest ratio of your ten assignments will be dropped before calculating your
composite grade for these assignments.
REVISION POLICY: If you turn in an assignment on the designated due date, you may resubmit it
(once) for re-grading. You have one week to resubmit an assignment from the date of my return of
the assignment. All re-submissions must include what you originally submitted for the assignment
(with my initial comments) and the revised portions of the assignment (on new paper – please don’t
just write something new on your original paper).
60%
Tests
There will be four tests during the semester. The tentative dates of the midterms are
February 9,
March 15,
April 12, and
May 8
The May 8 date is our final examination period for our course . For each test you will be given the full 1
hour and 20 minutes to complete the test. For each you will be allowed a calculator and a single note
sheet (8.5 in x 11 in.)