The Mathematical Education of Teachers II

W. James Lewis1 Sybilla Beckmann2 and Denise A. Spangler2

1 University 2 University

of Nebraska-Lincoln of Georgia

AMTE Jan 2013

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The Mathematical Education of Teachers II

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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all who have contributed to MET2, but we want to express special thanks to: Math for America for their nancial support that made possible the development, printing and dissemination of the MET2 report The Brookhill Foundation and the National Science Foundation for their support of the 2010 and 2011 CBMS Forums on Mathematics Education where participants provided valuable comments and suggestions The many teachers, mathematicians and mathematics educators who offered extensive and thoughtful criticism of an earlier draft of MET2

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The MET2 Writing Team

Sybilla Beckmann, University of Georgia Daniel Chazan, University of Maryland Al Cuoco, Education Development Center Francis (Skip) Fennell, McDaniel College Bradford Findell, The Ohio State University Cathy Kessel, Mathematics Education Consultant Karen King, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics W. James Lewis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln William McCallum, University of Arizona Ira Papick, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Barbara Reys, University of Missouri Ronald Rosier, Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences Richard Scheaffer, University of Florida Denise A. Spangler, University of Georgia Alan Tucker, State University of New York at Stony Brook
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Why MET2?
Much has changed in the past decade NCTMs Curriculum Focal Points and Focus in High School Mathematics Foundations for Success, the 2008 National Mathematics Panel Report NSFs Math Science Partnerships and Noyce grants Increased attention to the mathematical education of teachers among mathematicians Increasing common ground among mathematicians and mathematics educators and The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
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Why MET2?

Address the professional development of mathematics teachers Address math specialists, early childhood teachers, special education teachers Review and update the MET Recommendations Align mathematics teacher education with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

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AMTE contributions to MET2

Writing team includes 9 AMTE members including 2 past presidents A 2010 survey of the AMTE membership provided valuable information about
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how the 2001 MET Report was used by AMTE members, the inuence of the MET Report, sections of the report they found most useful, and features or focus areas they recommend for additional emphasis in the revised report

A 2012 AMTE Task Force report provided some of the most useful feedback we received on the February 2012 public draft

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MET2 themes
There is intellectual substance in school mathematics. Prociency with school mathematics is necessary but not sufcient mathematical knowledge for a teacher. The mathematical knowledge needed for teaching differs from that of other professions. Mathematical knowledge for teaching can and should grow throughout a teachers career.

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MET2 Recommendation 1
Prospective teachers need mathematics courses that develop a solid understanding of the mathematics they will teach. The mathematical knowledge needed by teachers is substantial yet quite different from that required in other mathematical professions. Prospective teachers need to understand the fundamental principles that underlie school mathematics. Coursework for prospective teachers should examine the mathematics they will teach in depth, from a teachers perspective.

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MET2 Recommendation 2
Coursework that allows time to engage in reasoning, explaining, and making sense of the math that prospective teachers will teach. Well-started beginning teachers need Elementary teachers at least 12 hours on fundamental ideas of elementary mathematics. Middle grades (5-8) teachers at least 24 hours of mathematics that includes 15 hours on fundamental ideas of school mathematics appropriate for ML teachers. High School teachers the equivalent of a major that includes three courses with a primary focus on high school mathematics from an advanced viewpoint.

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MET2 Recommendation 2

At each level, these recommendations include courses especially designed for teachers.

The recommended statistics-probability courses need to be different from the courses typically taken by STEM majors and from the non-calculus-based statistics courses offered at many universities.

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MET2 Recommendation 3
Throughout their careers, teachers need opportunities for continued professional growth in their mathematical knowledge. Satisfying the minimum requirements for initial certication to teach mathematics does not ensure that even outstanding future teachers have the knowledge of mathematics, of teaching, and of students that is possessed by successful experienced teachers. The need for professional development takes on increased importance due to the wide adoption of the CCSS. A reasonable goal for initial certication at the secondary level is to create beginning teachers who are able to teach competently a portion of the high school curriculum.

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MET2 Recommendation 4
All courses and professional development experiences for mathematics teachers should develop the habits of mind of a mathematical thinker and problem-solver, such as reasoning and explaining, modeling, seeing structure, and generalizing. Courses should also use the exible, interactive styles of teaching that will enable teachers to develop these habits of mind in their students. To help their students achieve the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice, teachers must not only understand the practices of the discipline but also how these practices can occur in school mathematics and be acquired by students.

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MET2 Recommendations 1 4

Apply to early childhood and elementary-level generalist teachers

middle grades and high school teachers who teach mathematics classes

teachers of special needs students, ELL, other special groups, when those teachers have direct responsibility for teaching mathematics.

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MET2 Recommendation 5
Teacher education must be recognized as an important part of mathematics/statistics departments missions and should be undertaken in collaboration with mathematics educators. More mathematics/statistics faculty need to become deeply involved in professional development for teachers and become involved with local schools and districts. National and regional efforts are needed to help prepare mathematics/statistics faculty to contribute effectively to teacher education. Mathematics/statistics departments must provide graduate level courses designed to meet the professional needs of PreK-12 mathematics teachers.

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MET2 Recommendation 6

Mathematics education, including the mathematical education of teachers, can be greatly strengthened by the growth of a mathematics education community that includes mathematicians as one of many constituencies committed to working together to improve mathematics instruction at all levels and to raise professional standards for teaching.

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Elementary Teachers

. . . this report recommends that before beginning to teach, an elementary teacher should study in depth, and from a teachers perspective, the vast majority of K5 mathematics, its connections to prekindergarten mathematics, and its connections to grades 68 mathematics. By itself, this expectation is not sufcient to guarantee high quality teaching. . . . However, there is no substitute: a strong understanding of the mathematics a teacher will teach is necessary for good teaching.

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Elementary Teachers
Essential Grades K 5 Ideas for Teachers

Operations and Algebraic Thinking (Kindergarten Grade 5). The different types of problems solved by addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and meanings of the operations illustrated by these problem types. Teaching-learning paths for single-digit addition and associated subtraction and single-digit multiplication and associated division, including the use of properties of operations (i.e., the eld axioms). Recognizing the foundations of algebra in elementary mathematics, including understanding the equal sign as meaning the same amount as rather than a calculate the answer symbol.

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Ch 4: Elementary Teachers
The Common Core State Standards and the mathematics that elementary teachers should study

Operations and Algebraic Thinking (Kindergarten Grade 5 5). Illustrative activities:

1

Recognize that commutativity for multiplication is not obvious and use arrays to explain why multiplication is commutative. MP 3, 5.

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The commutative property of multiplication

Why should multiplication be commutative? This is not obvious!

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The commutative property of multiplication

So why is A B equal to B A???

The temptation is just to check a bunch of examples, but is there some underlying reason why it always works?

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The commutative property of multiplication

So why is A B equal to B A???

The temptation is just to check a bunch of examples, but is there some underlying reason why it always works?

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The commutative property of multiplication

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The commutative property of multiplication

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The commutative property of multiplication

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Elementary Teachers
The preparation and professional development of elementary teachers

The mathematics of elementary school is full of deep and interesting ideas, which can be studied repeatedly, with increasing depth and attention to detail and nuance. Therefore, whereas prospective teachers will undertake an initial study of elementary mathematics from a teachers perspective in their preparation program, practicing teachers will benet from delving more deeply into the very same topics.

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Elementary Teachers
The preparation and professional development of elementary teachers

Programs for Prospective Teachers Professional Development for Practicing Teachers Challenges in the Education of Elementary Teachers Elementary Mathematics Specialists Refers to AMTEs 2009 standards for EMS Early Childhood Teachers Teachers of Special Populations

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Middle Grades Teachers

Essential Grades 6 8 Ideas for Teachers

Ratio and Proportional Relationships (Grades 67). Illustrative activities: 2. Compare and contrast different ways to nd values in proportional relationships and in inversely proportional relationships. For example, explain why linear interpolation can be used with proportional relationships but not with inversely proportional relationships. MP 3, 4, 7.

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Middle Grades Teachers

Essential Grades 6 8 Ideas for Teachers

+ 100 + 100 + 100 + 100

Miles Gallons

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0 Gallons
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Middle Grades Teachers

Essential Grades 6 8 Ideas for Teachers

Miles: Gallons:

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Middle Grades Teachers

Essential Grades 6 8 Ideas for Teachers

Suppose that 2 people take 8 hours to mow 5 acres of grass. (Assume all the people work at the same steady pace.)
Proportional relationship Inversely proportional relationship

2 Acres: 2.5 People: 1 2 5 2

2 10 4

2 20 8 Hours: 16 People: 1

2 8 2

2 4 4

2 2 8

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Middle Grades Teachers

Essential Grades 6 8 Ideas for Teachers

Suppose that 2 people take 8 hours to mow 5 acres of grass. (Assume all the people work at the same steady pace.)
Proportional relationship Inversely proportional relationship

3 Acres: 2.5 People: 1 5 2 3 # acres # people = 2.5

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3 7.5 3 10 4 Hours: 16 People: 1 8 2 3 # hours # people = 16

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Middle Grades Teachers

The Preparation and Professional Development of Middle Grades Teachers

. . . prospective and practicing middle grades teachers need to be aware of representations, be they drawings, tape diagrams, number lines, or physical models, used in the earlier grades and how those representations may lend themselves to establishing and extending mathematical ideas into the middle grades.

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High School Teachers

Introduction

A double discontinuity:

Felix Klein: The young university student [was] confronted with problems that did not suggest . . . the things with which he had been concerned at school. When, after nishing his course of study, he became a teacher . . . he was scarcely able to discern any connection between his task and his university mathematics.

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High School Teachers

Introduction

Not just forward looking, but also connecting back:

the mathematical topics in courses for prospective high school teachers and in professional development for practicing teachers should be tailored to the work of teaching, examining connections between middle grades and high school mathematics as well as those between high school and college.

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High School Teachers

Introduction

The need for opportunities to engage in mathematical practices and develop mathematical habits of mind:

teachers need opportunities for the full range of mathematical experience themselves: struggling with hard problems, discovering their own solutions, reasoning mathematically, modeling with mathematics, and developing mathematical habits of mind.

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High School Teachers

Introduction

Outline:
1

Essentials in the mathematical preparation of high school teachers. Important additional mathematics content that can be learned in undergraduate electives or in professional development programs for practicing teachers. Essential mathematical experiences for practicing teachers.

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High School Teachers

Essentials in Mathematical Preparation

Courses taken by a variety of undergraduate majors Single- and multi-variable calculus Introduction fo linear algebra Statistics and probability

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High School Teachers

Essentials in Mathematical Preparation

Courses intended for all mathematics majors Number theory A comparison of arithmetic in Z and Z/nZ helps teachers understand the importance of the lack of zero divisors when teaching the factor to solve techniques for quadratic and higher-degree equations. For example, how would one add words to turn these equations into a coherent logical argument? x 2 5x + 6 = 0 (x 3)(x 2) = 0 x 3 = 0, x 2 = 0 x = 3, x = 2 Does the argument work over Z/6Z?
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High School Teachers

Courses designed primarily for prospective teachers

Geometry and transformations. The approach to geometry in the Common Core State Standards replaces the initial phases of axiomatic Euclidean geometry. In the latter, the triangle congruence and similarity criteria are derived from axioms. The Common Core, on the other hand, uses a treatment based on translations, rotations, reections, and dilations, whose basic angle and distance preserving properties are taken as axiomatic. It is essential that teachers see a detailed exposition of this development.

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High School Teachers

Important Additional Mathematics

It is impossible to learn all the mathematics one will use in any mathematical profession, including teaching, in four years of college. Therefore teachers will need opportunities to learn further topics throughout their careers.

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High School Teachers

Essential Experiences for Practicing Teachers

Many teachers prepared before the era of the CCSS will need opportunities to study content that they have not previously taught, particularly in the areas of statistics and probability. . . . teachers need experiences that renew and strengthen their interest in and love for mathematics, help them represent mathematics as a living discipline to their students by exemplifying mathematical practices, gure out how to pose tasks to students that highlight the essential ideas under consideration, to listen to and understand students ideas, and to respond to those ideas and point out aws in students arguments.

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High School Teachers

Sample undergraduate mathematics sequences: Short sequence 33 semester-hours Long sequence 42 semester-hours

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Can the MET2 vision be realized, and what will it take?

Academic culture is slow to change, but it is changing. Here is some evidence: 1993 (20 years ago) The Joint Math Meetings had 7 talks about the mathematical education of teachers including: Thoughts on the mathematical preparation of teachers. Alan Schoenfeld Rethinking the mathematical education of teachers: What do we know and what do we need to gure out? Glenda Lappan 2001 (12 years ago) The JMM had 33 talks about the mathematical education of teachers. Many were related to the draft recommendations of The Mathematical Education of Teachers 2013 There were at least 70 talks and posters related to the mathematical education of teachers.
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Can the MET2 vision be realized, and what will it take?

The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) has an Educational Advisory Committee chaired by Deborah Ball and for 10 years it has sponsored an annual workshop on Critical Issues in Mathematics Education. Past workshops include: 2005 Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching K-8 2007 Teaching Teachers Mathematics 2011 The Mathematical Education of Teachers 2012 Teacher Education in view of the Common Core And a related workshop 2009 Using Partnerships to Strengthen Elementary Mathematics Teacher

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Can the MET2 vision be realized, and what will it take?

In AMTE, the profession has an organization focused on the mathematical education of teachers 1991 In November, AMTE began with a meeting of 15 people 2001 185 people attended the 2001 AMTE national conference; AMTE has 670 members . . . we must be more active at every level. Think about getting involved. . . . Let people know about the importance of mathematics teacher education and AMTE every day. Skip Fennel, AMTE President, AMTE News, March 2001 2013 581 registered for the 2013 national conference; AMTE has 942 members
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Discussion
Your thoughts and comments? How can we engage our colleagues in discussions about implementing MET2 recommendations?

How can we work towards implementing MET2 recommendations at our own institutions?

How can we work to change policies so they become aligned with MET2 recommendations?

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