Math 5378 Summer I 2009 Concepts of Geometry in K 8 Mathematics selected days and times Carter Junior High AISD Instructor Dr Christopher Kribs Zaleta Office 483 Pickard Hall Phone 817 272 5513 fax 272 5802 email kribs uta edu WWW http mathed uta edu Office Hours Wednesdays 11 AM 12 noon and by appointment Prerequisites graduate standing and consent of instructor Text materials DMI s Examining Features of Shape casebook henceforth EFS Additional materials will be provided in class or on the course web page Course home page http mathed uta edu kribs 5392e html Last day for withdrawal June 21 Class policy on drops withdrawals academic honesty and accommodating disabilities follows the University policy on these matters Copies can be obtained upon request LEARNING OUTCOMES After completing this course students should be able to identify and use appropriate representations of geometric ideas in teaching situations including conceptual contextual concrete pictorial and symbolic models analyze student thinking involving geometric ideas design and implement research based lessons to teach geometry concepts including the development selection and sequencing of problems identify and use different geometric representations as well as examples and counterexamples to make definitions of terms in geometry recognize and apply geometric notions of comparison including congruence similarity symmetry scaling and transformations such as translation rotation and reflection recognize and apply different meanings of angle construct and analyze different two dimensional representations such as nets cross sections and projections of three dimensional objects and distinguish their properties FORMAT This course will study geometry concepts in several ways through work on challenging mathematical problems to develop our own geometrical abilities and communicating the results to develop our expository abilities discussing what research has discovered about the learning of geometry concepts at the K 8 levels and examining specific instances of K 8 students geometrical work through both case studies and our own classroom practice Before class each week you will read articles and or case studies from K 8 mathematics and make notes on them in preparation for class discussions You will also often work on mathematics problems outside of class to facilitate their discussion in class We will typically begin class by working on new mathematics problems and discussing their solutions in both small and large groups We will follow this up by discussing the assigned readings as well as other related topics We will typically end class with time for reflection on how the topics we have discussed apply to our own classrooms During class discussions we will often refer back to work we have done earlier in the course so please bring your notes and papers from previous sessions to class MATH 5378 Page 1 POLICIES Students who are not classroom teachers will need to make arrangements to interact with K 8 students for many of the assignments those starred on the calendar Students are expected to be on time prepared and ready to work every week This class meets 5 00 8 00 PM on 5 26 5 28 6 02 and 6 08 and 3 30 6 30 PM Mon Thu for the rest of June Each student is allowed the equivalent of one week s absence 3 total hours for whatever reason without penalty All subsequent absences including arriving significantly late will result in the reduction of the final course grade by one half letter grade 5 for each absence See DMI handout for policy on making up work from a missed class With the exception of examples of student work written assignments are expected to be typed and use correct grammar and punctuation Diagrams equations etc may of course be hand drawn Each student is allowed one late submission during the semester The paper must be submitted before the beginning of the class period following that in which it was due Papers not submitted by the end of class time on the due date are considered late Submission of a late paper constitutes the student s agreement that this is the one allowed late assignment Each student is allowed one electronic submission during the semester Electronic submissions must be complete and not missing any ancillary materials such as student work necessary for grading If the electronic submission is made late then it is both the only late paper allowed and the only electronic submission allowed This does not include drafts sent for consultation prior to submission but consultation must take place in person or via telephone Each student is allowed to submit one revised paper for a regrade under the following terms The revised paper and the graded original must be turned in together at the penultimate class meeting The new grade replaces the original Students are encouraged to consult with the instructor prior to submitting a revised paper GRADES Your grade for the course will be determined by five elements each of which has equal weight 1 journal entries and participation 2 a written student interview 3 a short case study 4 a paper detailing your own mathematical work and 5 a lesson involving a problem you select to develop geometrical concepts in your students All of these are detailed in the next section Note on study time Summer courses take a sixteen week semester and compress it into five weeks That s a compression factor of more than three Not only does this time compression leave students less time to unpack and reflect between class meetings but it also means that in order to engage fully in the course one has to spend more than five times as many hours per day outside of class on coursework than would be true during a long semester In particular instead of the usual rule of thumb of six hours per week outside of class for every three hours per week spent in class the proportion becomes 18 hours per week out of class for 9 hours per week in class This is equivalent to a half time job Please be careful to plan accordingly Assignments 1 Journal On days in which there is not a major assignment due you will write a short about one page reflection in response to a prompt given below Many of the prompts are also given in the DMI handouts distributed in class Some involve action research reports in which you will write about your own students mathematical work You will often use and discuss your responses in class within your small groups and in large group These reflections are to be turned in at