Math Problem Solving in Action


Book Description

In this new book from popular math consultant and bestselling author Dr. Nicki Newton, you’ll learn how to help students become more effective and confident problem solvers. Problem solving is a necessary skill for the 21st century but can be overwhelming for both teachers and students. Dr. Newton shows how to make word problems more engaging and relatable, how to scaffold them and help students with math language, how to implement collaborative groups for problem solving, how to assess student progress, and much more. Topics include: Incorporating problem solving throughout the math block, connecting problems to students’ real lives, and teaching students to persevere; Unpacking word problems across the curriculum and making them more comprehensible to students; Scaffolding word problems so that students can organize all the pieces in doable ways; Helping students navigate the complex language in a word problem; Showing students how to reason about, model, and discuss word problems; Using fun mini-lessons to engage students in the premise of a word problem; Implementing collaborative structures, such as math literature circles, to engage students in problem solving; Getting the whole school involved in a problem-solving challenge to promote schoolwide effort and engagement; and Incorporating assessment to see where students are and help them get to the next level. Each chapter offers examples, charts, and tools that you can use immediately. The book also features an action plan so that you can confidently move forward and implement the book’s ideas in your own classroom. Free accompanying resources are provided on the author's website, www.drnickinewton.com.




Math Running Records in Action


Book Description

In this new book from popular consultant and bestselling author Dr. Nicki Newton, you’ll discover how to use Math Running Records to assess students’ basic fact fluency and increase student achievement. Like a GPS, Math Running Records pinpoint exactly where students are in their understanding of basic math facts and then outline the next steps toward comprehensive fluency. This practical book introduces a research-based framework to assess students’ thinking and move them toward becoming confident, proficient, flexible mathematicians with a robust sense of numbers. Topics include: Learning how often to administer Math Running Records and how to strategically introduce them into your existing curriculum; Analyzing, and interpreting Math Running Records for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; Using the data gathered from Math Running Records to implement evidence-based, research-driven instruction. Evaluating students’ speed, accuracy, flexibility, and efficiency to help them attain computational fluency; Each chapter offers a variety of charts and tools that you can use in the classroom immediately, and the strategies can easily be adapted for students at all levels of math fluency across grades K-8. Videos of sample running records are also available for download at https://guidedmath.wordpress.com/math-running-records-videos. Blackline masters are available on the Running Records Dropbox at https://bit.ly/3gnggIq




Math Problem Solving in Action


Book Description

In this new book from popular math consultant and bestselling author Dr. Nicki Newton, you'll learn how to help students in grades K-2 become more effective and confident problem solvers. Problem solving is a necessary skill for the 21st century but can be overwhelming for both teachers and students alike. Dr. Nicki shows how to make word problems more engaging and fun, starting in the early elementary grades so that students have a strong foundation to build upon. Topics include: Using games, songs, and poems to make complex mathematical concepts more accessible; Showing students how to reason about, model, and discuss word problems; Implementing problem-solving workshops and workstations to maximize practice time and encourage collaboration; Teaching students to recognize and apply elementary mathematical concepts--including addition, subtraction, part-whole relationships, etc.--in real-life situations; Incorporating different types of assessment to measure student progress and help them get to the next level. Each chapter offers examples, charts, and tools that you can use immediately. The book also features a set of action plans so you can move forward with confidence and implement the book's ideas in your own classroom.




Problem Solving in Mathematics Education


Book Description

This survey book reviews four interrelated areas: (i) the relevance of heuristics in problem-solving approaches – why they are important and what research tells us about their use; (ii) the need to characterize and foster creative problem-solving approaches – what type of heuristics helps learners devise and practice creative solutions; (iii) the importance that learners formulate and pursue their own problems; and iv) the role played by the use of both multiple-purpose and ad hoc mathematical action types of technologies in problem-solving contexts – what ways of reasoning learners construct when they rely on the use of digital technologies, and how technology and technology approaches can be reconciled.




Mathematica in Action


Book Description

"Mathematica in Action, 2nd Edition," is designed both as a guide to the extraordinary capabilities of Mathematica as well as a detailed tour of modern mathematics by one of its leading expositors, Stan Wagon. Ideal for teachers, researchers, mathematica enthusiasts. This second edition of the highly sucessful W.H. Freeman version includes an 8 page full color insert and 50% new material all organized around Elementary Topics, Intermediate Applications, and Advanced Projects. In addition, the book uses Mathematica 3.0 throughtout. Mathematica 3.0 notebooks with all the programs and examples discussed in the book are available on the TELOS web site (www.telospub.com). These notebooks contain materials suitable for DOS, Windows, Macintosh and Unix computers. Stan Wagon is well-known in the mathematics (and Mathematica) community as Associate Editor of the "American Mathematical Monthly," a columnist for the "Mathematical Intelligencer" and "Mathematica in Education and Research," author of "The Banach-Tarski Paradox" and "Unsolved Problems in Elementary Geometry and Number Theory (with Victor Klee), as well as winner of the 1987 Lester R. Ford Award for Expository Writing.




Productive Math Struggle


Book Description

All students face struggle, and they should—it is how they learn and grow. The teacher’s job is not to remove struggle, but rather to value and harness it, helping students develop good habits of productive struggle. But what’s missing for many educators is an action plan for how to achieve this, especially when it comes to math. This book guides teachers through six specific actions—including valuing, fostering, building, planning, supporting, and reflecting on struggle—to create a game plan for overcoming obstacles by sharing · Actionable steps, activities, and tools for implementation · Instructional tasks representative of each grade level · Real-world examples showcasing classroom photos and student work




Daily Math Thinking Routines in Action


Book Description

Bring math to life with routines that are academically rigorous, standards-based, and engaging! Go beyond circling ABCD on your bell ringers and do nows and get your students reasoning, modeling, and communicating about math every day! In this new book from bestselling author and consultant Dr. Nicki Newton, you’ll learn how to develop effective daily routines to improve students’ thinking, reasoning, and questioning about math. The book provides a wide variety of rigorous, high-interest routines and explains how to rotate and implement them into your curriculum. Inside, you’ll find: Questioning techniques that encourage students to think beyond the "right vs. wrong" continuum Tips for building a math-learning environment that is friendly and supportive of all students Math vocabulary exercises that are meaningful and fun An assortment of innovative daily activities, including "Fraction of the Day," "Truth or Fib," "Find and Fix the Error," "Guess My Number," "What Doesn’t Belong?" and many, many more. Each chapter offers examples, charts, and tools that you can use immediately. With these resources and the practical advice throughout the book, you’ll increase students’ ability to understand math on a deeper level while keeping them engaged in their own learning processes.




Powerful Problem Solving


Book Description

How can we break the cycle of frustrated students who "drop out of math" because the procedures just don't make sense to them? Or who memorize the procedures for the test but don't really understand the mathematics? Max Ray-Riek and his colleagues at the Math Forum @ Drexel University say "problem solved," by offering their collective wisdom about how students become proficient problem solvers, through the lens of the CCSS for Mathematical Practices. They unpack the process of problem solving in fresh new ways and turn the Practices into activities that teachers can use to foster habits of mind required by the Common Core: communicating ideas and listening to the reflections of others estimating and reasoning to see the "big picture" of a problem organizing information to promote problem solving using modeling and representations to visualize abstract concepts reflecting on, revising, justifying, and extending the work. Powerful Problem Solving shows what's possible when students become active doers rather than passive consumers of mathematics. Max argues that the process of sense-making truly begins when we create questioning, curious classrooms full of students' own thoughts and ideas. By asking "What do you notice? What do you wonder?" we give students opportunities to see problems in big-picture ways, and discover multiple strategies for tackling a problem. Self-confidence, reflective skills, and engagement soar, and students discover that the goal is not to be "over and done," but to realize the many different ways to approach problems. Read a sample chapter.




Math Workshop in Action


Book Description

Find out how Math Workshops engage students and increase learning. This practical book from bestselling author Dr. Nicki Newton explains why Math Workshops are effective and gives you step-by-step instructions for implementing and managing your own workshop. You’ll find out how to... create a math-rich environment; use anchor charts effectively; manage the workshop; begin a workshop with activities; lead whole-group mini-lessons; make workstations meaningful and engaging; create guided math groups; implement "the Share" effectively; and ensure balanced assessments. Each chapter offers a variety of charts and tools that you can use in the classroom immediately, as well as reflection questions and key points. The book also features a handy Quick-Start Guide to help you as you implement your own workshop.




Mathematical Problem Solving


Book Description

This book is addressed to people with research interests in the nature of mathematical thinking at any level, topeople with an interest in "higher-order thinking skills" in any domain, and to all mathematics teachers. The focal point of the book is a framework for the analysis of complex problem-solving behavior. That framework is presented in Part One, which consists of Chapters 1 through 5. It describes four qualitatively different aspects of complex intellectual activity: cognitive resources, the body of facts and procedures at one's disposal; heuristics, "rules of thumb" for making progress in difficult situations; control, having to do with the efficiency with which individuals utilize the knowledge at their disposal; and belief systems, one's perspectives regarding the nature of a discipline and how one goes about working in it. Part Two of the book, consisting of Chapters 6 through 10, presents a series of empirical studies that flesh out the analytical framework. These studies document the ways that competent problem solvers make the most of the knowledge at their disposal. They include observations of students, indicating some typical roadblocks to success. Data taken from students before and after a series of intensive problem-solving courses document the kinds of learning that can result from carefully designed instruction. Finally, observations made in typical high school classrooms serve to indicate some of the sources of students' (often counterproductive) mathematical behavior.