Course Descriptions
Outlines are normally available 1-2 weeks prior to the start of term in D2L.
Teaching and Learning Mathematics
Teaching and Learning Mathematics is a program option within the Master of Education (MEd), Interdisciplinary route. Visit the MEd, Interdisciplinary Route page for complete MEd details including fees
This topic is designed to support an ongoing commitment to improve teaching and learning in mathematics K-12. Participants will engage in activities to deepen their appreciation for and facility with the various pedagogies of mathematics, paying particular attention to the ways that the approaches we take and the environments we create shape both the student (through the eyes of the discipline) and the discipline (in the eyes of the student). The topic is aimed at developing understanding of, and proficiency in mathematics for teaching, especially in terms of the kinds of classroom environments, student learning tasks, teaching provocations, and interactions among teacher and learners that sponsor student fluency, comfort, and enthusiasm for learning, applying and re/creating mathematics.
This topic consists of four interconnected courses: (i) learning mathematics: current perspectives; (ii) mathematical knowledge for teachers; (iii) teaching mathematics; (iv) mathematics learning: design and implementation.
Target Audience
- Teachers with an interest in supporting strong mathematics learning across the K-12 curriculum
- Educators and consultants who work to support mathematics teachers
- School and district leaders providing institutional support for mathematics learning
Program Goals:
- To develop a familiarity with educational mathematics research and innovation, including key figures, seminal writings, established trends, and emergent concerns and insights in the field.
- To examine the nuanced differences, influences, and intersections between classroom mathematics practice and academic discourses.
- To experience iterative approaches for designing effective teaching such that learning is authentic to the discipline of mathematics and its place in the world.
- To hone the ability to analyze artifacts of student learning and to refine assessment practices (formative and summative) in ways that inform teaching and learning
- To unpack essential mathematical concepts in order to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics for teaching across the curriculum
Program Schedule
The Werklund School is a leader in online learning, offering robust programs and supports for students seeking alternate program delivery. Staff and faculty are committed to ensuring the quality of this learning experience will meet the needs of our students and maintain the high standards we have become known for.
Course Delivery
For information regarding online delivery, please refer to the eLearn website.
3 units per course
EDER 689.82 Learning Mathematics: Current Perspectives
This course looks across current perspectives and innovation in teaching, learning, and assessment practices in K–12 mathematics, including aspects of embodied cognition, spatial reasoning, and computational thinking and modeling. Current research and emerging paradigms in mathematics education afford new insights, prompt different questions, and suggest alternative ways of thinking about pedagogical practice—including, but not limited to, the design, articulation, and interpretation of various teaching–learning enactments. Drawing on these current perspectives, participants will critically analyze the possibilities and constraints inherent in mathematics pedagogies.
Registration Info:
EDER 689.82 L01 (1670)
EDER 689.87 Mathematical Knowledge for Teachers
The most prominent topic of mathematics education research at the moment, mathematical knowledge for teaching, is organized around the realization that, when it comes to mathematics, disciplinary (or content) knowledge of effective teachers is more a matter of understanding deep associations among familiar mathematical concepts and seemingly unrelated everyday experiences than it is about taking more advanced courses in math. This course is, in a sense, focused on developing better understandings of what teachers already know–seeking to enhance teachers’ knowledge of mathematics not by studying more math individually, but by unpacking concepts collaboratively (e.g., identifying and elaborating metaphors, analogies, applications, exemplars, gestures, and other experiences that contribute to the 'shape' of an idea). Participants will engage in unpacking mathematical concepts relevant to the curriculum and critically analyzing the implications for their own practice.
Registration Info:
EDER 689.87 L02 (1671)
EDER 689.83 Teaching Mathematics
This course launches an investigation into the larger questions, theories, and issues that have driven and are driving mathematics education through a critical review of the evidence in the field. It draws on notable research and theorists, key academic and professional journals, and significant written work that traces the field’s evolution and innovation over the past decades. Participants will become familiar with key figures, seminal writings, established trends, and emergent concerns in the field, and will reflect on how theory and research impact poignant issues and debates in schools today, including in their own practice.
Registration Info:
EDER 689.83 (TBD)
EDER 689.88 Mathematics Learnng: Design & Implementation
With the emergence of new insights into the complexities of individual learning and collective knowledge production, new strategies have been developed for the design of learning opportunities—tasks, lessons, units, projects—and the interpretation of student performances in mathematics. This course will look at some of those strategies (e.g., lesson study), the theories that support them, and the sorts of products and performances they foster. Participants will engage in collaborative and iterative approaches for developing and implementing effective mathematics learning and will plan for gathering and analyzing artifacts of student learning including the implications for assessing such learning (formative and summative assessments) and using assessment to further inform practice.
Registration Info:
EDER 689.88 (TBD)