Text: Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers;
Tom Bassarear; Houghton Mifflin Co.; 1997; ISBN 0-39-566959-6
Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers: Explorations;
Tom Bassarear; Houghton Mifflin Co.; 1997; ISBN 0-39-566960-X
Package of both texts, ISBN 0-39-586558-1
Optional: Student Solutions Manual; ISBN 0-39-583448-1
Suggested Calendar
| 16-Week Semester | 6-Week Semester | ||
| Week | |||
| 1 | 1.1-1.6 | 1.1-2.2 | |
| 2 | 2.1 | 2.2-3.2 | |
| 3 | 2.2 | 3.2-4.2 | |
| 4 | 2.3-3.1 | 4.3-5.1 | |
| 5 | 3.1-3.2 | 5.2-5.4 | |
| 6 | 3.2-3.3 | 6.1-6.2, wrap-up, | |
| 7 | 4.1-4.2 | final assessment | |
| 8 | 4.2-4.3 | ||
| 9 | 4.3 | ||
| 10 | 5.1 | ||
| 11 | 5.2 | ||
| 12 | 5.3 | ||
| 13 | 5.4 | ||
| 14 | 6.1 | ||
| 15 | 6.2 | ||
| 16 | wrap-up, final assessment |
Suggested Problems and Explorations
1 4, 11, 15, 16, 17, 22, 26, 32, 42, 43 Exploration 1.3
2.1 3, 4, 8, 13, 24 Exploration 2.3
2.2 7, 12, 20, 23 Explorations 2.5, 2.6
2.3 11, 12, 15, 23, 24, 27 Explorations 2.8, 2.9
3.1 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, Explorations 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
24, 25, 26
3.2 1, 3, 5, 9, 12, 15, 16, 18, 23, 26, 27, 28, Explorations 3.4, 3.6 part 2, 3.9,
35, 37, 47 3.10, 3.12
3.3 parts of 1-9, 12, 13, 14, 22, 23, 25, 30, Explorations 3.15, 3.17, 3.19
40, 44, 50
4.1 4, 5, 8, 11, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 28, 34 Exploration 4.1
4.2 15, 16, 17 Exploration 4.2, 4.3
4.3 1a, 1c, 2a, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Exploration 4.4, 4.5 (optional)
5.1 4, 7-13, 16-18, 20, 22, 24; Exploration 5.2
5.2 1, 2, 5, 15, 17, 19, 24, 27; Explorations 5.5, 5.7
5.3 10, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 30, 35, 36; Explorations 5.11, 5.12, 5.13
5.4 13,18,36,37; Explorations 5.14, 5.15, 5.17, 5.20
6.1 5, 11, 19, 25, 29, 40 Explorations 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4
6.2 1, 5, 10, 22, 29, 36 Explorations 6.8, 6.9
Chapter 1: This chapter is mostly reading for the students.
Class time can be spent doing explorations as groups with some
lecture. Problems from Chapter 1 may be best utilized if spread
throughout the course.
Chapter 2: This chapter should emphasize sets as a means
of classifying and de-emphasize extensive work with formal set
notation. Venn diagrams should be introduced as an organizational
strategy to assist in classification. If scheduling permits, you
should start 2.3 during Week 3 to allow more time for Explorations
2.8 and 2.9.
Chapter 3: Preservice elementary teachers need to understand
the connections between the arithmetic operations. They should
study the properties of addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division, and understand why addition and multiplication share
properties that subtraction and division do not.
In sections 3.1 and 3.2, students will learn and use algorithms
for performing the arithmetic operations different from the standard
algorithms used in the United States. Using and understanding
unfamiliar algorithms will deepen their understanding of arithmetic.
One of the most important lessons learned from sections 3.1 and
3.2 is that it is not good enough for our preservice teachers
to understand the "hows" of an algorithm, but they must
understand the "whys."
Base 10 blocks would be very effective for sections 3.1 and 3.2.
Exploration 2.8 (Alphabitia) should be done before chapter 3 is
started. This exploration is referred to repeatedly throughout
sections 3.1 and 3.2
Section 3.3 pulls together knowledge and skills from 3.1 and 3.2
to perform mental arithmetic and estimation.
Chapter 4: The explorations for this chapter should precede
the textbook material. You will probably want to allow 3 1-hour
classes for exploration 4.4. The instructors manual has very helpful
information on this exploration. If there is time, you should
do exploration 4.5.
The investigations in chapter 4 can be done either as homework
or as group activities to turn in. You will probably want to emphasize
the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Vera Prestion and Mary Hannigan have
"hundreds" charts for the Sieve of Eratosthenes projects.
While there are interesting homework problems in the text, they
may be best if done only if there is extra time after completing
the explorations and investigations.
The units blocks or color tiles can be used to form rectangles
from a given number of blocks/tiles. Use graph paper to record
the various rectangles after they are built with the manipulatives.
Cuisenaire rods are very useful for determining greatest common
factor and least common multiple.
Chapter 5: Students need to develop strong understandings
of the connections between the subsets of numbers in the real
number system. They need to deepen and expand their understanding
of the uses and meanings of the operations with these subsets.
Chapter 6: Emphasize proportional reasoning, rather than
computational proportions. If students understand proportions,
they will find themselves reasoning proportionally more often.
Discuss and develop the idea that percents are ratios that are
based on 100 rather than some other number.