Syllabus

Victor Donnay, Ph.D. 610-526-5352 vdonnay@brynmawr.edu

Nell Anderson, Director, Praxis 610-526-5031 nanderso@brynmawr.edu

Description: This praxis course will examine research-based approaches to teaching mathematics and science that involve active, hands-on, inquiry based learning. How do these new approaches reflect current research? How are these new pedagogical methods being implemented in K-12 and college classrooms? What challenges arise when one tries to bring about these types of changes in education? What is the regional, state, national and international context for math and science education?

The course will meet once a week (Wed 7-10pm, Rm 336 and/or 338 Park ). During the weekly meeting, there will be a variety of activities including:

§ presentations by visiting educators who will discussion their experiences in education and educational change and related issues. These sessions will provide the theoretical framework to help students understand their praxis experiences.

§ discussions of weekly readings. Students in the course will take turns leading discussions and giving presentations.

§ reflection sessions in which students will make connections between the theoretical material they have been learning in class and their practical experiences in the field.

§ field journal sharing in which students report on their experiences in the field.

§ teaching self-study in which we examine the teaching strategies used in that week’s presentations and the associated successes and challenges.

Field Placement: Students in the course will each have a field placement with a local K-16 teacher who is engaged in some aspect of educational reform in math or science. The students will observe and assist their host teachers for a total of 4 - 6 hours per week (typically 2 visits per week).

Objectives: Students will

become keen observers of and active participants in pedagogical reform in classrooms.
understand the theoretical and research underpinnings of pedagogical reform in mathematics and science.
become familiar with pedagogical strategies inherent in current curricular innovations, understand their rationale and implementation and have some opportunities to try out these strategies themselves*.
learn about a variety of different roles/positions/jobs that play a role in math and science education.
become familiar with personal, institutional, community and systemic incentives for and resistance to change so as to develop their ability to become effective change agents in education.
develop a heightened analytical sense of themselves as learners.

*Ed 220 is not a ‘methods’ course in math/science education so the primary focus of the course is not on practicalities of day-to-day teaching.

Course Assignments: Students will

keep a journal about their field placement experiences in which they record their observations and reflections and make linkages between their field experiences and the course material.
read material related to math and science education; some assigned and some of their own choosing.
write weekly reaction papers (1-2 pages) related to the readings, the guest presentations, and/or their placements. To be submitted to Blackboard site by 5pm Tuesday evening.
write a range of short (1-3 pages) papers. Many of these will involve finding examples from their placement of issues we discuss in class. The placement journal will provide a basis for these papers.
take turns giving presentations and leading discussions in class.
create a Glossary of Teaching Techniques which describes different teaching techniques they have learned about, how, when (and when not) to implement these techniques. The Glossary will be a collaborative construction of the whole class and will be web based.
write a final paper/project (10-15 pages). There are a variety of options. Some examples: develop a lesson plan or create a project based assignment linked to your course and then explain the rational for the choices you made. The project should demonstrate understanding of a variety of the topics covered in the course. Due the last day of written work.
give a 15 minute oral presentation summarizing their final project during exam period.
combine all their work for the term into a portfolio (exact format to be decided) which will provide opportunity for reflection. The portfolio will contain a variety of artifacts (pieces of work from the semester) including representatives from the main categories of assignments: journal entry, reaction paper, short essay, (other) students’ presentations, guest presenters.

Schedule: The course schedule with a list of topics, readings, assignments and discussion topics are outlined in the electronic Ed 220 Syllabus Matrix. This schedule is tentative and subject to change.

Grading:

15% Attendance and participation in classroom activities

15% Fulfillment of Praxis expectations: attendance, professional demeanor, fulfilling agreement with teacher.

30% Class assignments

10% Journal

30% Final project

General Structure:

- presentation of new material

- discussion of readings/ placement experiences.

- teacher talk: examine the teaching choices/practices that were made in the class.

Readings: There will be a variety of readings for the course: some from books, some from reports on the web. The readings will be available on the course Blackboard site (http://blackboard.brynmawr.edu/) as pdf files or accessible on the web. There will also be hard copies of the reading on reserve at Collier and whenever possible a hard copy of the complete book from which the readings came.

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School, Expanded Edition, Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., Cocking, R.R.. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. 2000. Also available on line (free), one page at a time from the National Academics of Science: http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309070368/html/ .

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368

A slightly earlier version of the book (1999) is available in easy to read form on-line at:

http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/

The only differences between the two versions seem to be: Introduction (Ch 1) and the Next Steps for Research (Ch. 11).

How students learn: history, mathematics, and science in the classroom, M. Suzanne Donovan and John D. Bransford, editors, National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. 2005. The book can be read online (free), one page at a time from the National Academics of Science:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10126.html

Inside the black box: raising standards through classroom assessment, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, 1998 Phi Delta Kappa International, http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm
Assessment for Learning, P. Black, C. Harrison, C. Lee, B. Marshall, D. Wiliam, Open University Press, 2003.
Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics, Liping Ma, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999.
Mapping the field, Deborah Pomeroy, Studies in Science Education, 24 (1994), 49-73.
Mathematics and Democracy, The Case for Quantitative Literacy, Lynn Steen, Executive Editor, National Council on Education and the Disciplines 2001 (Preface and Chapter 1).
Science for All, American Association for the Advancement of Science. Americans. Project 2061. Oxford University Press N.Y. 1990 (Chapter 1).
Teaching for Conceptual Change: Confronting Children's Experience. Watson, B, Konicek, R. Phi Delta Kappan. May 1990 pp. 680 – 685.
Classroom instruction that works: research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, Jane E. Pollock.
What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain, Harvard University Press, 2004.
Implementing Standards-Based Mathematics Instruction: A casebook for professional development. Mary Kay Stein, Margaret Schwan Smith, Marjorie A. Henningsen, Edward A. Silver, Teachers College Press, 2000.
California Dreaming: Reforming Mathematics Education, Suzanne M. Wilson, Yale University Press, 2003.

Web Based Resources:

The Glenn Commission Report, www.ed.gov/americacounts/glenn (Executive Summary).
Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, at www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309100399. National Academy of Sciences, 2007.