Mathematics

The Math Teachers’ Circle of Hawaii (MaTCH) is a gathering of mathematicians, educators, and mathematics educators who do problem-solving activities together on Saturdays. Although the group has grown and changed since its launch in 2010, it continues to be an engaging time where elementary, middle, and high school school teachers join with university faculty and students to do math and discuss mathematics teaching.

Two MaTCH professional development institutes will be offered in 2016–2017:

1. A Fall/Winter MaTCH will meet on 10/22, 11/12, 12/10, 1/14, and 2/4 at Webster 101 at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Anyone is welcome to join us. Please register at http://bit.ly/MaTCH2016
2. The late spring MaTCH will take place on one Saturday in April and one Saturday in May, followed by three sessions in early June. Specific dates and information to follow!

HIDOE PDE3 credits will be offered for completing the requirements for either session.

Professional development for A Modeling Approach to Algebra (AMAA) will be offered during the 2017 spring semester in partnership with the Hawai‘i Department of Education for HIDOE teachers. This professional development prepares teachers for teaching the HIDOE course, Modeling Our World I and draws heavily upon the research-based content and approaches in the AMAA materials.

Sessions are currently being scheduled. More information will be posted here and communicated to schools through the HIDOE Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support as it becomes available.

Geometric Measurement and Spatial Reasoning in Elementary Mathematics Teaching is a professional development (PD) opportunity for practicing elementary teachers that is being offered in the 2016–2017 school year. This PD presents opportunities for teachers to develop professional knowledge and practices in four areas to support student learning of measurement:

• Mathematics: concepts, methods, and tools used in linear, 2D, and 3D measurement,including a look at these ideas and skills within and across the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
• Student thinking: understanding the development of children’s reasoning about linear, 2D, and 3D measurement through examining research-based learning trajectories
• Teaching: using learning trajectories in assessing student thinking and analyzing curricula
• Learning from practice: studying learning trajectories of one’s own students through the use of anecdotal note-taking workshops, in which participants discuss samples of students’ work, observational notes, and other records of practice in collaborative groups.

Planning is underway. We expect the PD to be offered in Honolulu for O‘ahu participants, and to include one or two neighbor island participant groups. Please check back here for updates.

This teacher professional development experience provides a content-based learning experience for elementary grades teachers designed to deepen their understanding of elementary mathematics and pedagogy. Activities include solving mathematics problems through a problem-solving and inquiry approach; experiencing and studying pedagogical techniques that promote understanding by learners constructing their own meaning; and observing a mathematics class using content and pedagogy that is parallel to what participants experience in the course.

This course offering provides a content-based learning experience for middle school teachers to deepen their understanding of mathematics and pedagogy. Activities include solving mathematics problems using a transformational geometry perspective; experiencing and studying pedagogical techniques that promote understanding by learners constructing their own meaning; and observing a laboratory mathematics class using content and pedagogy that is parallel to what participants experience.

In this professional development experience, teachers will strengthen their pedagogical content knowledge by working on rich mathematics tasks. The course will focus on the mathematical content knowledge needed to teach and will concentrate on effective instructional strategies, rather than simply what a teacher knows about mathematics. This course is designed to demonstrate how the CCSS can be used to help structure and organize the teaching and learning of mathematics. Participants will engage in problem-solving activities that lay the foundations for the development of algebraic concepts. Technology is embedded in activities where appropriate.

The CRDG high school geometry curriculum, Geometry: A Moving Experience, uses geometric transformations to develop concepts using a constructivist perspective. This professional development is designed to introduce teachers to using transformations as a foundation for developing significant ideas in geometry and to prepare teachers for teaching a geometry course for learners who have a range of prior success in previous mathematics courses. Although the curriculum will have a central role in the professional development, it is not exclusively for future teachers of this geometry program. This professional development course has relevance for any teacher curious about or preparing to teach geometry concepts.