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MAT 2435 Mathematics for Elementary Education II

This is the second of two mathematics courses designed for future elementary school teachers. The focus is on understanding ratios, proportional relationships, functions, measurement, geometry, statistics, and probability. This is a mathematics content course. Please note that this is not a teaching methods course, but a course focusing on using, justifying and connecting mathematical concepts. This course employs oral and written communication as both a learning tool and as preparation for handling mathematical questions which arise in elementary school classrooms. Discussion focuses on the deep mathematical reasoning underlying the computational procedures that are usually taught in elementary school. The course explores common misconceptions with preservice teachers, enabling the interpretation of children's work which might be incorrect, incomplete, or different from adult ways of thinking. Also this course is activity based, providing opportunities for deep, connected learning. It is essential for all teachers of mathematics to understand the reasoning underlying the mathematics they are teaching. They need to understand why various procedures work, how each idea they will be teaching connects with other important ideas in mathematics, and how these ideas develop and become more sophisticated.

Division: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Department: Mathematics
Repeatable Credit: No
Offered Online: No

Prereqs: MAT 2415 and with a grade of C of better 

Outcomes

  • Explain the general principle of measurement and the central role of units. Understand and distinguish between area and volume, giving rationales for formulas. Convert between units of measure.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of geometry including understanding geometric concepts, informally proving and explaining theories about angles, examining, predicting, and identifying translations, rotations, reflections, and dilations and applying the concepts of congruence and similarity.
  • Distinguish proportional relationships from other relationships and reason about how quantities vary in proportional relationships. Apply unit rates in equation formulation and problem solving. Demonstrate understanding of linear functions using tables, graphs, equations and descriptions using words.
  • Apply basic statistical and probability principles including properly formulating statistical questions, summarizing numerical data, calculating theoretical and experimental probabilities, informally reasoning from samples to populations, and exploring relationships in bivariate data.

Credit Hours: 4

Classroom Hours: 4