Month: September 2022

This discussion forum is associated with your Reflecting on Internet Search Behaviors assignment, so please look at that first and find an activity or lesson as it describes.

Use this forum to make a post that indicates where online you initiated your search for the activity/lesson and also attach (or link directly to) the activity/lesson you ended up finding

This assignment is designed for reflecting

 

Download TPACK reading (Koehler, Mishra, & Cain, 2013). The overarching question for the reflection is as follows:

“What knowledge and skills do you think mathematics teachers need to be with the times in the 21st Century?”

You do not need to but you may address the following sub-questions in your reflection:

• What would you see if you observed a teacher with very strong TPACK? In what ways are those things related to what you consider a “good math teacher”?
• If one of the math teachers in your building was horrible at searching the internet (they don’t know what’s out there, they don’t know how to search effectively), does that concern you? What implications do you see with regard to their current classes? their future classes?
• What if another math teacher in your building searches the internet frequently and always comes back with visually inviting but repetitive, low-level worksheets? Does that concern you? What knowledge or skills would help this teacher improve their choices?

Turn in this paper by submitting it on Canvas via this assignment page.

Once upon a time, teaching mathematics was predominantly about being the bridge between the content (codified in a textbook) and the students. In modern times, however, the prevalence of printed textbooks is waning and teaching is becoming more and more about finding (and adapting) resources online. Therefore, to be an “effective teacher” now involves some level of skill in navigating online resources and discerning good learning activities for particular students. This assignment is designed to prompt careful consideration of some of the online search behaviors that we may engage in automatically.

PART ONEThink of a topic you will be teaching 2-3 weeks from now. (If you’re not currently teaching, think of a topic that you will be teaching in some form sometime in the future.) Then go online and find an activity or lesson that addresses the topic you identified.

On the SHARE Internet Resource discussion forum, make a post that indicates where online you initiated your search for the activity/lesson and also attach the activity/lesson you ended up finding. 

PART TWOThen, think about the details of your search-and-selection process and write a paper that answers the following reflective questions:

1. Where do you go to start your search? Why?
2. How did you search? (What did you actually type and why? Did you refine or change what you searched for? Why?)
3. How did you decide what search results to examine more closely?
4. Did you look at something that you ended up NOT selecting? Why did you decide against selecting that thing?
5. For the one you did select, why did you choose that one over everything else the internet has to offer?

A few paragraphs for each question should be plenty. Turn in this paper by submitting it on Canvas via this assignment page.

 

1. Using the topics listed below, create a concept map. Feel free to add in concepts you find to be important/helpful, but minimum you must use the concepts identified in this assignment. There are plenty of websites that can help you design your concept map. A Google search like “concept map maker” yields several free sites that can help you design your concept map. I encourage you to explore the various options. You can also use Word, or another program, or draw it out and send a JPEG. It is also an option to create your concept map free hand. Your final product needs to be a Word, PDF or JPEG file I can access, so be on the lookout for that capability. Please don’t pay for a tool to use, there are plenty free sites out there.

Topics you must have in your concept map:

• Learning
• Neurology/Cognitive Neuroscience
• Nervous system
• Neurons
• Synapses
• Brain structures & functions
• Development of the brain
• Experience-Expectant Plasticity
• Experience-Dependent Plasticity
• Behaviorism
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Reinforcement
• Punishment
• Shaping
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Token Economy
• Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
• Social Learning Theory
• Modeling
• Social Cognitive Theory
• Observational Learning
• Imitation
• Self-Efficacy
• Self-Regulation
• Gestalt Psychology
• Constructivism
• Cognitive Psychology
• Information Processing Theory
• Sociocultural Theory

Explanation of Concept Map (5 points)

1. In addition to the concept map, write a paragraph or two describing the relationships between the nodes in your map. These paragraph(s) do not need to be extensive, although they do need to give enough information that demonstrates your understanding of the material. You do not need to cite any sources for this assignment.
2. When your concept map and explanation is complete, submit them here. You may submit one file with both components of the assignment, or you may submit separate files of each.

Grading Guidelines

Your concept map must show your understanding of how all the topics identified fit together. You may add topics if you wish, however, you must use all the topics listed in this assignment. There are no right or wrong answers. The goal of this assignment is to help you as a student piece together important ideas we have covered in class thus far and for me to be able to see how you are thinking about the information presented thus far.

The assignment is worth a total of 20 points (concept map 15 points (half point per concept); explanation 5 points).

what are your thoughts on some schools’ policy of using course grades as a primary factor in students’ mathematics placement? For example, high grades in a previous math class are often required for students to be moved into an advanced track the following year, or low grades in a math class can result in a student being moved to a regular or remedial class. Please articulate your position on this statement and provide a rationale, or if you have mixed thoughts please explain the pros and cons as you see them.

LENGTH: 1-2 pages, double-spaced.

Discussion of Burkhardt Reading

33 unread replies.5858 replies.

In the Burkhardt_2007assessment 

 

Download Burkhardt_2007assessmentchapter, you will find that he briefly touches on several important ideas about assessment. Which of those ideas resonated with you the most profoundly, and what implications do you see with regard to your own teaching/students/district?

Alternatively, are there any positions that Burkhardt staked out that you disagree with? Please explain your disagreement.

Read the Webel and Otten (2015) essay 

Download Webel and Otten (2015) essaythat is ostensibly about the Photomath app but is really about the role of technology in mathematics education generally.

Then, by August 31st, post your reactions to the article and by September 4th, post substantive replies to other people’s thoughts in this forum. For your initial post, you may react organically to the article or you may respond to the following prompts:

1. What ideas from the article will live on even if the Photomath app becomes extinct? Will those ideas expire in the future or not at all, and why?
2. Webel and Otten describe three different relationships one can maintain with respect to technology. Which of the three relationships best describes your past experiences as a mathematics educator (or learner)? Which of the three relationships would be your ideal situation as a mathematics educator? If none of the three fit in your case, please describe your relationship to technology as you see it.

In the Burkhardt_2007ass

 

Download Burkhardt_2007assessmentchapter, you will find that he briefly touches on several important ideas about assessment. Which of those ideas resonated with you the most profoundly, and what implications do you see with regard to your own teaching/students/district?

Alternatively, are there any positions that Burkhardt staked out that you disagree with? Please explain your disagreement.

Consider the following grading scheme for a public school mathematics class:

COMPONENT                                      % OF FINAL GRADEQuizzes (3 per unit) …………………………………… 15%Unit Exams……………………………………………… 15%Semester Exam………………………………………….. 20%Homework…………………………………………………. 30%Projects/Presentations (1 per unit)……………… 20%

There are no quiz/exam retakes or corrections. The semester exam is cumulative. Homework is graded on a completion-basis only; if a homework assignment is completed on time, it receives full points; if it is completed one day late, it receives half points; if it is later than one day, it receives 0 points. Attendance is factored indirectly into the grade because homework is assigned most days, so if a student is absent then they will not receive full points for their homework that day. Projects/presentations span several days of class time and involve students working in groups on larger application problems and presenting their results to the class.

Letter grades are assigned in a traditional fashion: A+ (100-97), A (96-93), A- (92-90), and so forth.

 

Thinking about this grading scheme, what does it mean for a student to receive an A? What does it mean to receive a B or a C? Overall, what does the letter grade communicate to the student about their mathematical learning?

Consider the following grading scheme for a public school mathematics class:

COMPONENT                                      % OF FINAL GRADEQuizzes (3 per unit) …………………………………… 15%Unit Exams……………………………………………… 15%Semester Exam………………………………………….. 20%Homework…………………………………………………. 30%Projects/Presentations (1 per unit)……………… 20%

There are no quiz/exam retakes or corrections. The semester exam is cumulative. Homework is graded on a completion-basis only; if a homework assignment is completed on time, it receives full points; if it is completed one day late, it receives half points; if it is later than one day, it receives 0 points. Attendance is factored indirectly into the grade because homework is assigned most days, so if a student is absent then they will not receive full points for their homework that day. Projects/presentations span several days of class time and involve students working in groups on larger application problems and presenting their results to the class.

Letter grades are assigned in a traditional fashion: A+ (100-97), A (96-93), A- (92-90), and so forth.

 

Thinking about this grading scheme, what does it mean for a student to receive an A? What does it mean to receive a B or a C? Overall, what does the letter grade communicate to the student about their mathematical learning?