Prerequisites & Bulletin Description
Course Objectives
This course designed for mathematics majors who are considering teaching math at the middle or high school level. Students will have the opportunity to learn what it is like to be a teacher, to see firsthand the challenges teachers encounter, to work with middle or high school students from a variety of cultures and to learn and try out research-based methods for teaching mathematics. The course will create a community of undergraduate math students who can support each other as they learn about teaching in the public schools. As part of the course, students will complete the 45 hours of preliminary field experience, which is required for admission to California credential programs.
Evaluation of Students
Grades will be based on weekly responses to assigned readings and reports on student responses to specific ideas to be used in their assigned classrooms, group planned lessons, oral reports on class work, a midterm report on their field experience and a final summary describing their experience and what they learned from it.
Course Outline
| Topics | Number of Weeks |
|---|---|
| Cultural differences and preferences in learning mathematics Community building in the classroom | 3 |
| Problem Solving and its central role in teaching and learning mathematics | 3 |
| Connections between mathematical topics at the 7 - 12 level and sorting out the big mathematical ideas | 3 |
| Inquiry-based learning and construction of understanding | 3 |
| Structuring mathematics lessons for secondary students | 3 |