2189. Classroom Interactions (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: Education 2179: Knowing & Learning in Mathematics & Science. Special authorization required for all students. This course is restricted to students enrolled in TUteach.

This course continues the process of preparing students to teach mathematics and science in upper elementary and secondary settings. The specific objectives of this course are to: 1) demonstrate to students how learning theories (from the Knowing and Learning course) manifest themselves in instructional settings (usually classrooms), allow students to design and implement instructional activities from their own understanding of knowing and learning mathematics and science, and evaluate the outcomes of those activities based on evidence from student artifacts, and 2) provide students with frameworks for thinking about equity issues in the classroom and larger school setting and their effects on learning and provide students with strategies for teaching diverse student equitably. The culminating activities of the course are the opportunities for students to teach in a high school and to learn whether they enjoy and are good at it. While in “Knowing and Learning” students study the meaning behind understanding a particular content area from an individual perspective, in Classroom Interactions the perspective shifts to studying how classroom events might promote or discourage learning mathematics and science and student equity. A major component of the Classroom Interactions course is the opportunity for students to reflect on and evaluate their own work as teachers.

3145. Teaching & Learning Mathematics in the Middle Grades (3 s.h.)

This course examines methods of teaching and assessing mathematics in the middle grades. Special attention is paid to understanding the conceptual difficulties students have in moving from whole numbers to rational numbers, additive thinking to multiplicative thinking, and arithmetic to algebra. Problem-solving, connections, and concrete models are emphasized.

3146. Methods and Materials in Secondary Mathematics (3 s.h.) S.

(Formerly: M ED-S 0146.)

This course will explore problems in algebra, trigonometry, analytic geometry, calculus, Euclidean geometry, probability, statistics, and discrete mathematics. This course is intended as a capstone study for prospective secondary mathematics teachers. The objectives of this course are as follows: (1) connect ideas within and between mathematical concepts, (2) develop mathematical thinking and reasoning, and (3) develop problem solving skills. Technology will be a vital part of this course. Technology will be used to demonstrate and encourage conjecturing and problem solving with an emphasis on applications. The goals of this course are to help you as prospective or beginning secondary mathematics teachers to: (1) develop a deep understanding of the mathematics you will be teaching by connecting mathematical concepts to instruction and (2) acquire the skills, knowledge, and reflective practice necessary for successful teaching.

3147. Geometry and its Classroom Implications (3 s.h.)

(Formerly: M ED-S 0147.)

The class stresses the topics found in a standard high school geometry course from an advanced point of view. In addition, important plane geometry theorems such as Ceva’s Theorem, and Menelaus’ Theorem are examined. Special attention is paid to the concept of proof, and different kinds of proofs are examined. Non-Euclidean geometry is investigated, as are the constructions of college geometry.

3278. Professional Subject Matter: Statistics (1 to 3 s.h.)

(Formerly: M ED-S 0278.)

This course addresses the statistics curriculum found in most high school advanced placement courses. In addition, students will test hypotheses using appropriate sampling strategies, and interpret the results in terms of confidence intervals and significance. The course will also examine interpreting the results of statistical tests, (including z-test, t-test, paired t-test, matched t-test). In addition, special consideration will be given to developing strategies for modeling data, making predictions from these models, and considering issues relating to population, random samples, and proportions.

4189. Project-Based Instruction (3 s.h.)

Prerequisite: M ED-S 2189: Classroom Interactions. Special authorization required for all students. This course is restricted to students enrolled in TUteach.

Project-Based Instruction (PBI) is the capstone course in the sequence of required education courses and is required before TUteach students take Education 4688: Student Teaching in Secondary Education. PBI is the course in which the major themes of the TUteach program – integrated content of mathematics and science learning, infusion of technology in representation, analysis, modeling, assessment and contextualization of the content, field-based experiences, and equity – converge into an exciting and intellectually challenging culminating experience. When students complete PBI, they are fully prepared for Student Teaching. Whereas in Classroom Interactions, students gain experience designing a sequence of several lessons that they teach to a high school class, in PBI, students design full units of connected lessons – a skill that is required in Student Teaching. PBI also provides students with the experience of managing lessons and students outside a classroom, in a field setting. Despite its name, PBI emphasizes choosing from a variety of appropriate teaching styles, depending on the type of material and the learning objective, with project-based instruction being just one possible alternative. In addition, PBI requires students to incorporate various technologies into the units they plan.

4366. The Teaching of Problem Solving (3 s.h.)

(Formerly: M ED-S 0366.)

This course is designed for the in-service as well as the pre-service teacher. Topics to be discussed will be the role of problem solving and reasoning in the mathematics curriculum, developing techniques for improving problem solving and reasoning abilities of students on mathematics. Emphasis will be on how to teach problem solving as opposed to merely solving problems.

4371. History of Mathematics (1 to 3 s.h.) F.

(Formerly: M ED-S 0381.)

The course will consider the mathematical ideas of particular significance in elementary and secondary school curricula: the development and introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals, early computing devices, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries, etc. Ways in which the history of mathematics may be used to enhance the learning of mathematical concepts by students in the schools will also be examined.

Note: Offered in even-numbered years.
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