The PCMI 2007 Program

« Secondary School Teacher Program

Secondary School Teacher Program Working Groups

Please note these descriptions are subject to change. If you have any questions regarding the SSTP Working Groups, please contact the PCMI office at pcmi@ias.edu.

Participants will explore ideas relating to data and chance using teh Navigation Series from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics as a resource.  Technology, such as the statistical software of FATHOM, will be used as a tool for learning.  The goal is to produce lessons, describe teaching strategies, or present an issue related to statistics or probability.  Content related to the study of data in beginning secondary courses as well as in AP Statistics will be explored.

Exploring Discrete Mathematics

Members of this working group will explore topics from the rich field of discrete mathematics, which is increasingly important in both various applications and K-12 education.  Possible topics include counting techniques, graph theory, logic games, and in the light of this year's research topic, coloring maps on bagels.  Participants will develop resources to help their peers incorporate this material into their classrooms.

Investigating Geometry

Participants will consider one or more rich geometry topics from multiple mathematical and pedagogical perspectives with special emphasis on "hands-on-investigations," model building, dynamic software, and other active approaches.  From this work, the group will create lessons, activities, or discussion documents that relate to the classroom and geometrical investigations.

Learning from Teaching Cases

Participants will discuss readings and video of classrooms, using video taken from a variety of sources, including some classes taught by Deborah Ball at PCMI.  We will construct ways of talking about classroom practices and student learning in order to learn and benefit from observing video.  The product will be a record of the group discussions during the summer session and afterwards.

Teacher Professional Continuum Writing Group

As a part of the Teacher Professional Continuum (TPC) program the National Science Foundation has funded PCMI to create and disseminate ourse materials based on the Developing Mathematics course. The TPC working group will make decisions about what support facilitators would need to teach these courses, and then work on creating that facilitator support.

Implementing Lesson Study

Lesson study, Jugyuu Kenkyuu, is a professional development activity that is at the heart of much of the professional development for teachers in Japan.  In this group, participants will select a daily goal for a "study lesson," spend an extended period of time collaboratively creating a detailed lesson plan, observe a participant teach the lesson to students, participate in a collogquium to discuss the lesson, and revise and refine the lesson to share with others.

Visualizing Functions

Participants will explore selected functions from multiple perspectives.  Functions of interest may include polynomials and trigonometric functions, but also matrix functions and geometrical transformations.  One possible topic would be the use of computer algebra systems to work with functions, and how these can support or hinder learning.  For this topic teachers could study relevant research, design and evaluate lessons based on this study, or discuss implications for their own work with students.

Applied Probability

Description pending.