Understanding Students’ Ways of Thinking in Mathematics

Mathematics educators are tasked with ensuring that students learn the standards of the state and are prepared for the mathematics of the next grade or course. But amongst the daily learning targets, several “big ideas” of mathematics are present and pervasive and sometimes lost as teachers focus on the skills and knowledge of a specific lesson.

A collection of “Formative Conversation Starters” has been developed to assist educators in getting deeper into the underlying, cross-grade level concepts that are crucial for student learning of mathematics. With intentional probing questions tied to a rich mathematical task, teachers can uncover students’ current thinking about these important mathematical ideas, and use what they learn to shape the opportunities that bring the student along in their learning.

In this session of the TI STEM Exchange, the developers of these tools shared their design, effective use, and impact on teaching and learning.