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Mark Ellis, Ph.D. Candidate
Carolina Ph.D. candidate Mark Ellis is a Royster Fellow in the School of Education at Carolina. Prior to coming to Carolina, Mark taught mathematics in grades 6 through 12 in California for six years. His students’ performance on their end-of-grade exams in 1999 contributed to his school being recognized as among the 25 most improved in the state.
Mark is learning to help other teachers think about mathematics in new ways, allowing them to help students make sense of mathematics.
Speech Topics:
· Teaching and Learning for Mathematical Understanding
· Content Preparation of K-6 Teachers of Mathematics
Teaching and Learning for Mathematical Understanding
There is a perception that learning mathematics is a rote process of following procedural steps to get answers. While procedures are an important part of mathematics, it is critical that students make sense of how and why these steps work. This requires students to develop mathematical understanding. When students learn to understand mathematics concepts, they begin to build links among ideas that allow them to be more flexible in how they approach solving problems and using procedures. Mark will share research that has focused on teaching and learning for understanding’s sake and why this is something to support our teachers in working toward.
Content Preparation of K-6 Teachers of Mathematics
Until recently it had been assumed that students preparing to teach the elementary and middle school grades did not need specific content-focused coursework in mathematics beyond their undergraduate general education requirements (which might include some college mathematics courses). As we have learned more about how students develop mathematical understanding, this perspective has changed. Particularly with the implementation of curriculum materials designed to foster conceptual understanding, the need for teachers to understand mathematics as something more than facts and formulas has become clear.
During his first two years at Carolina, Mark taught a mathematics content course designed for pre-service elementary and middle grades education majors. The focus was on mathematical concepts and making sense of mathematics at a personal level. The design, implementation, and impact of this course will be shared in order to demonstrate its importance for those going into K-6 classrooms. Sample problems from the course will be shared - calculators not necessary! Research examining the mathematical preparation of pre-service teachers will be highlighted.
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