Math as a Second Language: Day 1 (7/10/17)

We began the morning by introducing ourselves. The people leading the workshop at PSU-GA this year are Dr. Beth Lindsey, Associate Professor of Physics, and Dr. Kuei-Nuan Lin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics. We also have a student, Ashley Brandon, who is helping us out this week. We received a warm welcome from Dr. Jackie Edmondson, the campus Chancellor.

After the welcome, we dove into some math! Participants worked on the “Kayak Problem” on their own, and then discussed the problem in their small groups. Many people had used a table or chart to find the times at which the two rental places cost the same amount. Shanna shared how she had used a multiplication approach to solve part A. Katie took the multiplication approach one step further and wrote a general form in terms of x (the number of hours) and then was able to solve part d algebraically. We discussed how the Kayak problem is powerful because it can be used in different grade levels to develop different skills. We talked about how all solutions are correct, but some solutions can be more efficient than others.

Beth discussed some norms for the classroom. We are here to learn to be fluent in mathematics, so everyone should expect to struggle a bit! It’s ok to make mistakes and learn from your mistakes, and it’s OK to feel challenged.

After the break, participants completed a pretest.

After lunch, we dove into the curriculum. We discussed the meaning of the equals sign, highlighting the importance of units (Compare “1 foot = 12 inches” to “1 = 12”) and taking care when using multiple equals signs in one row. We also started a discussion of fractions, highlighting how confusing the diagrams we use to introduce fractions can be in some cases. We saw how subdividing a line can be used to illustrate the idea of equivalent fractions.

 

Homework:

  1. Complete page 1-16, “Rules that Expire” and “Language that Expires”.
  2. Read pages 1 – 11 from Principles to Actions.

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