On track and on target

Making math reasoning explicit

It’s mid-way through summer session and nearly every table in the Math Learning Center on the Pullman campus is full. Look closely, though, and you’ll see that these aren’t your traditional undergraduate students: it’s a special summer institute for 75 elementary and secondary math teachers designed to help them help their students.

“In traditional math instruction, students are taught how to use a certain formula,” said Libby Knott, WSU professor of mathematics and director of the summer institute, “but they aren’t taught why it works or what the reasoning is behind the process.”

The summer institute is just one element of the Making Mathematics Reasoning Explicit (MMRE—pronounced “memory”) program. Knott partnered with Jo Olson, assistant professor of mathematics education in the WSU College of Education, and with colleagues at the University of Idaho and the superintendent of the Davenport School District to develop the MMRE program. A $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Math and Science Partnership brought the program to life in 2011.

Each year, 25 teachers in grades four through twelve are selected to participate in a three-year MMRE program. Knott and her team chose to work with rural districts in the Inland Northwest because small districts usually don’t have the resources for extended professional development. Additionally, the program has the potential make significant positive and systemic change in the math instruction available in these communities.

The MMRE summer institute brings the teachers to campus for three weeks of intensive instruction and cooperative study. There are morning math classes for everyone with breakouts for grade-specific instruction and special topics. The first summer institute, held in 2012, focused on proportional reasoning and this year the focus was on geometric reasoning.

Teachers experienced first-hand the type of concrete examples that can lead to better student engagement with math concepts. For example, one of their assignments this year was a treasure hunt. Teachers were given a map of the Pullman campus and a set of geometric clues (coordinates, distances, etc.), to locate the hidden items. This type of exercise promotes learning-by-doing, requires reasoning to determine methodology and develops critical thinking skills that work in math class and beyond.

“The logic and reasoning skills needed to examine the process of a mathematical argument can also be applied when considering a persuasive argument in a speech or the merits of government spending cuts,” said Olson.

Afternoons in the summer institute are filled with independent and group study and with leadership training. MMRE teachers are expected to share new
skills with colleagues in their home schools and districts. Inviting superintendents to participate in the last three days of the summer institute reinforces this crucial training-the-trainers element.

While the MMRE program is an outstanding professional development opportunity for rural teachers, it’s also serious research for Knott and Olson.

“We are collecting data and student artifacts, reviewing classroom videos, and assessing the outcomes of specific assignments for the teachers,” explained Knott.

The goal is to better understand key elements for improving the way mathematics is taught and learned in elementary and secondary settings. In addition to the summer institute, the MMRE team conducts classroom observations, visits each district several times a year and offers five half-day and one full-day regional seminars. An external evaluation company is benchmarking the participating schools and tracking student achievement over the five-year research project.

“It’s too early to report any significant results,” said Knott, “but we have lots of anecdotal reports from teachers about how this work is changing their teaching and their students’ engagement in mathematics.”

2013 MMRE participants