TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Scope and Sequence of the Teacher Development Institute



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Scope and Sequence
The scope and sequence of the SMI content is designed to build awareness in participants of specific cognitive skills and concepts that their students will need to successfully measure and estimate as identified by educational and psychological researchers. The skills include the ability to count, use standard and nonstandard measures, and distinguish relationships between unit size and number of units. The concepts include conservation, transitivity, perceptual versus representational space, and abstract ideas of unit, perimeter, area, and rate. Since adult learners have already achieved most if not all of these concepts and skills, institute activities are introduced with discussions and experiences that encourage participants to reexamine what they know and how they reach conclusions about the size of physical attributes. Then they are encouraged to explicitly plan for building these concepts and skills in their students.

Description of Conceptual Development
Throughout the Science and Mathematics Institute, participants both experience and reflect on the succession of cognitive skills needed to measure and estimate physical attributes by examining the instructional environment needed to build those skills and exploring different measurement systems. Teachers select and use appropriate measurement tools to solve authentic measurement problems while developing instructional skills that emphasize pedagogy found to promote an equitable classroom environment. The summer institute includes numerous hands-on activities, open-ended group measurement projects, and opportunities to generate subject specific, grade level appropriate classroom applications using their new knowledge and skills. During the first two weeks of the institute, instructional leadership is shared between the master teachers and the participants. By the end of the third week of the summer institute, instruction is driven mainly by the participants as they pursue their group-selected measurement projects, critically analyze pedagogical strategies, and select resources to support their instructional plans for their own classrooms. Throughout the year, follow-up meetings give the participants the opportunity to discuss their experiences teaching their own students, sharing their expertise with their peers, and exploring additional mathematics and pedagogical resources.


Science and Mathematics Institute

SCOPE & SEQUENCE OF CONTENT TOPICS

Mathematical Concepts & Skills

WEEK 1

BUILDING MEASUREMENT CONCEPTS

  1. Counting & Measuring, Discrete vs. Continuous Properties
  2. Comparison to Nonstandard and Standard Units
  3. Choosing Suitable Units: Physical Properties, Unit Size
  4. Conservation/Transitivity




WEEK 2

MEASURING & MODELING

  1. Perimeter & Area: Exploration, Development, & Application
  2. Volume: Exploration, Development, & Application
  3. Units: Inverse Relationships
  4. Additive Measures
  5. Angular Measurement and Motion in a Direction

WEEK 3

SYSTEMS & FORMULAS

  1. Maps & Models, Scaling
  2. Developing Formulas: Patterns
  3. Developing Formulas: Rate
  4. Nonadditive Measures
  5. Units: Precision

 

Pedagogical Concepts & Skills

WEEK 1

STUDENT CENTERED LEARNING

  1. Constructivism, Problem Solving from Cognitive Disequilibrium to Accommodation
  2. Using Manipulatives, Multisensory Learning, Learning Styles
  3. Cooperative Learning, The Interpersonal Dimension of Learning
  4. Role of Affect in Equitable Instruction: Motivation, Confidence, Appreciation, and Persistence

WEEK 2

BUILDING AN INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLKIT

  1. Authentic Assessment
  2. Project-Based Learning
  3. Inquiry Learning
  4. Questioning Techniques and Equitable Instruction
  5. Using Educational Technology to Enhance Instruction

WEEK 3

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING

  1. State and National Standards for Process and Content
  2. Individualizing Instruction
  3. Integrating Science & Math
  4. Planning Instruction for Building Conceptual Frameworks
  5. Selecting Curricular Resources for Equitable Instruction


This page was last updated 04/10/01.
Web Page Author: Debbie Jensen djensen@rice.edu
The SMI Teacher Enhancement Web Site
is part of the Rice University Precollege Web Site
Web Site Master: Marty Daniel martyd@rice.edu