MAKING ALGEBRA ACCESSIBLE TO ALL - Activities, Graphing Calculators, & Software that Deepens Understanding

INSTRUCTOR(S): Steve Akin, Sussex-Hamilton School District
GRADE LEVEL: 6-11
CREDIT: 2 or 3
 

The No Child Left Behind Act, a desire for equity and the need to equip all of our students for the world beyond high school, requires us to examine what it means to teach algebra in such a way that all students can be successful at it.  This course addresses the needs of the struggling learners who are ill-served by either a watered-down curriculum or a formal, manipulative-based algebra course that will not serve them beyond their final exam.

Finding appropriate ways to present algebra concepts to the reluctant learner has been the primary curricular challenge for most of us for more than a decade.  This course promises no "magic bullets" that will bestow instant algebra mastery to students, but rather a variety of strategies from a variety of sources.

The graphing calculator can be used for many pattern-recognition and prediction activities and will be taught with the novice user in mind.  Using graphing calculator technology will be a focus of our week together.  The TI-Navigator System networks graphing calculators into a single classroom-based lab where patterns can be explored and data can be accumulated.  Games and puzzles can reinforce learning where classic logic approaches to routine algebraic activities, such as factoring an solving equations, allow students to build skills in these important areas.  The concepts of Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design also provide fresh and helpful ways to look at curriculum development.

Throughout, activities tied into content are used to raise questions, teach content, and reinforce learning.  This course will not be "activity for activity's sake," but will provide participants with many different activities and the ability to develop and/or locate many more.