Fall 2011
Section 503 TR 11:10am-12:25pm in BLOC 149
Section 504 TR 2:20-3:35pm in BLOC 149
The course syllabus and all related materials will be posted in eLearning as they become available. The syllabus is also posted in Howdy.
Course Description
Structure of Mathematics I. (3-0). Credit 3. Informal logic, sets, relations, functions, whole numbers, numeration systems, binary operations, integers, elementary number theory, modular systems, rational numbers and the system of real numbers. Designed primarily for elementary teacher certification. Others must have consent of instructor. Prerequisites: Must have completed University Core Curriculum mathematics requirements with a grade of C of better.
Course Objectives and Philosophy
The overall goal of this course is to provide pre-service elementary and middle school teachers with the mathematical knowledge necessary to provide effective classroom instruction related to numbers and operations. In other words, this is a mathematics content course for students working towards a teaching certificate that allows them to teach mathematics for Grades 1 through 8. It is not a methods course in which the main focus is on how to teach mathematics. It is a course in which you will be asked to do and learn mathematics by engaging in logical mathematical thinking about numerical concepts so that you will have a strong content-knowledge base from which you can draw to make appropriate instructional decisions and generate appropriate mathematical questions as a mathematics teacher in Grades 1-8.
Students who participate in this course should improve their ability to:
· Appropriately represent the mathematics they are expected to teach, in multiple ways;
· Develop and explain their own mathematical thinking (verbally, pictorially, and in writing); and
· Analyze and evaluate the mathematical reasoning of others.
The development of these broad outcomes will be supported by the accomplishment of more specific outcomes that will be articulated during the course.