Description of Resources
This website includes video and print materials. There are two types of videos. Some are organized into groups that, taken together, form instructional sequences. Each of these videos describes some specific part of a sequence and includes details about the instructional activities that comprise it. Other videos are not part of an instructional sequence but are individual videos that describe one or more related instructional activities that can be used in conjunction with any curriculum materials.
Importantly, the videos also include detailed explanations about instructional approaches needed to accomplish the development of inquiry math classrooms. These discussions of instructional activities and approaches are necessarily intertwined. Viewers encounter examples of students’ ways of reasoning, explanations of what these might mean for the students’ conceptual development and understanding, and examples of appropriate teacher interventions. In the process, viewers gain an understanding of what we mean by conceptual development and how it can be fostered.
The print materials include templates for visual and print materials needed to implement the instructional sequences. In addition, we provide detailed notes to accompany each video. These sets of notes include essentially the same information as the videos and can be read independently. They can also be used as hands on print materials to easily review the information provided in the video.
Introductory Video
This introductory video explains the motivation behind the Patterning and Partitioning and Structuring Numbers instructional sequences including the types of reasoning these instructional sequences are designed to foster.
How to use these materials
The videos on the various Resources pages such as Patterning and Partitioning or Structuring Numbers are NOT short clips that introduce a specific instructional activity that a teacher can then quickly implement. Rather, they are dense and require time and thought to understand and implement. We recommend that viewers watch each video in its entirety and then go back to study it in more detail before making use of the information in their classrooms. In our experience, teachers often work in teams or with a teacher partner to incorporate the instructional sequences into their instruction. In doing so they create a community in which they can share ideas and explore questions and issues that arise when they implement the sequences with their students. Such a community can be particularly important for teachers that have not previously provided mathematics instruction that makes heavy use of class discussions as an essential feature of children’s mathematical learning.
The accompanying print materials include templates for visual and print materials needed to implement each instructional sequence. In addition, we provide detailed notes to accompany each video. These sets of notes include essentially the same information as the videos and can be read independently of the videos. They can also be used as hands-on print materials to easily review the information provided in the video.
The instructional materials described in these videos and the accompanying print materials form sequences and, as such, should be used in the order listed. Accordingly, the videos should be viewed in that same order. Videos later in a sequence assume the viewer is familiar with information provided in the earlier videos.