Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) Courses
Graduate & Professional
Participants in these courses will engage in rich mathematical experiences, analyze student thinking, and explore powerful instructional moves.
Program Overview
Great math teachers possess a combination of deep conceptual understanding of the mathematics they teach, a strong awareness of how students learn, and knowledge of a wide array of effective teaching practices to support students. Our DMI courses are designed to strengthen PreK-8 educators in all three of these areas.
Participants will engage in rich mathematical experiences, analyze student thinking, and explore powerful instructional moves in these highly interactive and transformative courses. Educators will leave with more expertise to facilitate student-centered mathematical experiences in their classrooms.
Courses
Building a System of Tens: Calculation with Whole Numbers and Decimals (BST)
Participants explore the base-ten structure of the number system, consider how that structure is exploited in multi-digit computational procedures, and examine how basic concepts of whole numbers reappear when working with decimals. (New 2017 edition available from NCTM)
Making Meaning for Operations: In the Domain of Whole Numbers and Fractions (MMO)
Participants examine the actions and situations modeled by the four basic operations. The seminar begins with a view of young children’s counting strategies as they encounter word problems, moves to an examination of the four basic operations on whole numbers, and revisit the operations in the context of rational numbers. (New 2017 edition available from NCTM
Examining Features of Shape (EFS)
Participants examine aspects of 2D and 3D shapes, develop geometric vocabulary, and explore both definitions and properties of geometric objects. The seminar includes a study of angle, similarity, congruence, and the relationships between 3D objects and their 2D representations.
Measuring Space in One, Two, and Three Dimensions (MS1213)
Participants examine different aspects of size, develop facility in composing and decomposing shapes, and apply these skills to make sense of formulas for area and volume. They also explore conceptual issues of length, area, and volume, as well as their complex inter-relationships.
Working with Data (WwD)
Participants work with the collection, representation, description, and interpretation of data. They learn what various graphs and statistical measures show about features of the data, study how to summarize data when comparing groups, and consider whether the data provide insight into the questions that led to data collection.
Reasoning Algebraically about Operations: In the Domain of Whole Numbers and Integers (RAO)
Participants examine generalizations at the heart of the study of operations in the elementary grades. They express these generalizations in common language and in algebraic notation, develop arguments based on representations of the operations, study what it means to prove a generalization, and extend their generalizations and arguments when the domain under consideration expands from whole numbers to integers.
Patterns, Functions, and Change (PFC)
Participants discover how the study of repeating patterns and number sequences can lead to ideas of functions, learn how to read tables and graphs to interpret phenomena of change, and use algebraic notation to write function rules. With a particular emphasis on linear functions, participants also explore quadratic and exponential functions and examine how various features of a function are seen in graphs, tables, or rules.
These courses can also be customized for groups with specific needs and goals.
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