Moving beyond memorization of probability rules, the area model can be useful in making some significant ideas in probability more apparent to students. In particular, area models can help students understand when and why they multiply probabilities and when and why they add probabilities.
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Tracy E. Dobie and Miriam Gamoran Sherin
Language is key to how we understand and describe mathematics teaching and learning. Learning new terms can help us reflect on our practice and grow as teachers, yet may require us to be intentional about where and how we look for opportunities to expand our lexicons.
Julie M. Amador, David Glassmeyer, and Aaron Brakoniecki
This article provides a framework for integrating professional noticing into teachers' practice as a means to support instructional decisions. An illustrative example is included based on actual use with secondary students.
Jessica T. Ivy, Sarah B. Bush, and Barbara J. Dougherty
To promote reversibility and strengthen number sense, we created an engaging and novel rational number exploration, which promoted flexible and reflective thinking. A class of fifth-grade students took an active role in a collaborative learning task, discussed their strategies, revisited the task, and reflected on their self-constructed generalizations.
Mathematical Explorations: A New Twist on Collaborative Learning
classroom-ready activities
Stephanie M. Butman
Research on students' learning has made it clear that learning happens through an interaction with others and through communication. In the classroom, the more students talk and discuss their ideas, the more they learn. However, within a one-hour period, it is hard to give everyone an equal opportunity to talk and share their ideas. Organizing students in groups distributes classroom talk more widely and equitably (Cohen and Lotan 1997).
Amy F. Hillen and Tad Watanabe
Conjecturing is central to the work of reasoning and proving. This task gives fourth and fifth graders a chance to make conjectures and prove (or disprove) them.
Allison B. Hintz
Teachers can foster strategy sharing by attending to the cognitive demands that students experience while talking, listening, and making mistakes.
A cartoon highlighting growth of a retirement fund is coupled with a full-page activity sheet.
Gabriel T. Matney and Brooke N. Daugherty
Cans on a grocery store shelf and Hirst's Capric Acid Amide can illustrate dot arrays, thus helping students understand the distributive property, partial products, and the standard algorithm for multiplication.
Lisa A. Brooks and Juli K. Dixon
A second-grade teacher challenges the raise-your-hand-to-speak tradition and enables a classroom community of student-driven conversations that share both mathematical understandings and misunderstandings.