Connecting

Mathematical Ideas:
Middle School Video
Cases to Support
Teaching and Learning
Jo Boaler
Cathy Humphreys
About the Book
• Eight cases of teaching and an
accompanying set of student interviews
• Year-long project videotaping two seventh-
grade math classes (higher tracks)
• Filmed everyday for entire year
• Connections between:
• students’ ideas and between student
and teacher ideas
• areas of math – encourages reflections
on ideas, representations, and different
domains such as algebra and geometry
Eight Cases
1. Building on Student Ideas – connections between
algebra & geometry
2. Building Understanding of Algebraic Representation –
algebraic expressions, variables, and functional
dependency
3. Defending Reasonableness
4. Introducing the Notion of Proof – algebraic equivalence
5. Class Participation – students share feelings on talking
publicly and different methods of eliciting participation
6. Continued discussion of Proof
7. Volume of Prisms and Cylinders
8. Surface Area – deriving a formula for SA of a cylinder
The Case for PCK
• The demands teachers face when
questioning a student are complex!
• First listen to student, understand his
reasoning, and locate his ideas in the
broader mathematical terrain.
• Consider what the student is capable of
and willing to do plus consider a
mathematically productive direction for
the student (and class).
• Post a good question – accessible,
challenging, and useful.
 Instrumental vs. Relational
Understanding
• Cathy • “Being able to perform the
Humphrey’s appropriate algorithmic
procedures… does not indicate
Teaching
any depth of understanding.”
Journey –
• “But for me as my colleagues,
select mathematics had always been
segments p. about following directions.”
7-9 • “I learned that I had developed an
“instrumental” understanding of
algebra (what to do) rather than a
“relational” understanding (what
to do and why).”
Developing Mathematical Proficiency
• The cases were selected based upon interesting,
unexpected, and sometimes difficult moments that
occurred during ordinary lessons.
• Theme emerged… students grappling with making
connections among math ideas, representations or
models of real-world contexts… which is at the heart of
math proficiency.
• As teachers, if we are able to more profoundly connect
our math understanding to our growing understanding of
how children learn math, the fabric of our own teaching
can become stronger.
Learning Mathematics
• Means making sense of mathematical relationships.
• Means getting better at the action verbs used to describe
the thinking habits mathematicians routinely use: looking
for patterns, conjecturing, justifying, analyzing,
wondering, and so on
• Relates to Mathematical Practices
• edTPA – developing a Language function for central
focus of a learning segment
Teaching Mathematics
• Means helping all students learn to think mathematically.
Students need to understand that:
• Math is more than arithmetic
• There is no direct route to understanding
• There are many ways to be good at math
• Many ways to approach most problems, even those
with only one answer.
• We can get better through practice, but talking and
listening to each other (Not just the teacher!) about
mathematical ideas help us understand the ideas in
different ways. We really understand what we can
EXPLAIN.
How to use the book
• Read Cathy’s notes about designing the
lesson
• Watch the case
• Ready Cathy’s reflections
• Read Jo’s Case Commentary
• Use CD discussion questions as source
for reflection and discussion as well.