Course Proposals Course Name:  Mathematics for Teaching - Geometry and Measurement  Course Prefix: MTHE Course Number: 6770              Submitted by (Name & E-Mail):  Dixie Blackinton, dblackinton@weber.edu Current Date:  3/11/2010 College: Science Department:   Mathematics                               From Term: Fall  2010  Substantive new  Current Course Subject N/A Current Course Number New/Revised Course Information: Subject:  MATH             Course Number: 6770 Check all that apply:     This is for courses already approved for gen ed.     Use a different form for proposing a new gen ed designation. DV  SI  CA  HU  LS  PS  SS  EN  AI  QL  TA  TB  TC  TD  TE Course Title: Mathematics for Teaching - Geometry and Measurement Abbreviated Course Title: Geometry & Measurement Course Type:  LEC Credit Hours:  3  or if variable hours:    to Contact Hours: Lecture 3  Lab    Other Repeat Information:  Limit 0   Max Hrs 0  Grading Mode:  standard This course is/will be: a required course in a major program a required course in a minor program a required course in a 1- or 2- year program elective Prerequisites/Co-requisites: Prerequisites: A Bachelor's Degree and at least one year of teaching experience in an elementary or junior high school. Course description (exactly as it will appear in the catalog, including prerequisites): Provides practicing teachers a deeper understanding of the geometry and measurement content that exists in the state core and instructional strategies to facilitate the instruction of this content. Prerequisites: A Bachelor's Degree and at least one year of teaching experience in an elementary or junior high school. There is currently a push in the state to increase the math content knowledge of elementary teachers. It is perceived that part of the solution is to offer inservice teachers (teachers who are currently teaching) additional training in math content infused with good pedagogy. The State Office of Education decided to build a program to support mathematics teaching patterned after the reading endorsement program which has been implemented successfully throughout the state. A committee composed of math and education faculty was convened to create the coursework for an endorsement program. Teachers will need to complete the coursework and pass a test to receive the endorsement. This course is one of six courses which together will meet the requirements of a new Utah State Office of Education Elementary Mathematics Endorsement. The endorsement includes five math content courses and one education course. There is much interest by Northern Utah school districts in having current teachers complete these courses either through a university or through courses arranged by the districts. Each course will be offered on a per demand basis. They will be financially supported by grants or school district funds. The state has requested that these courses be offered for graduate level credit at all universities in the state. They will not be offered to undergraduates. This will allow teachers who attain the endorsement to get a slight raise in salary. It is also hoped that teachers will go on to earn a Master’s degree. The Master's of Education in Curriculum and Instruction program director has agreed to accept credit from these courses as elective credit towards a Master’s of Education degree. Currently Ogden School District has requested WSU to offer these courses to their teachers beginning Fall 2010. INFORMATION PAGE for substantive proposals only 1. Did this course receive unanimous approval within the Department? false If not, what are the major concerns raised by the opponents? There was unanimous support for offering the courses. One faculty member objected to using the MTHE prefix on the courses which is a designation that the course is a math education course as opposed to a mathematics course. The faculty member requested that a new prefix be attached to the courses. The objection is that there are currently MTHE 6000 level courses in the catalog for which the math content is at a higher level than the math content in the proposed courses. Because the proposed courses can only be used as elective credit towards a Masters of Education degree or to earn an Elementary Mathematics Endorsement from the state of Utah, the prefix was not of concern to any other faculty members. Due to time constraints it was decided not to pursue assigning a different prefix. 2. If this is a new course proposal, could you achieve the desired results by revising an existing course within your department or by requiring an existing course in another department? There are no existing courses which teach these concepts at the depth needed by inservice teachers. 3. How will the proposed course differ from similar offerings by other departments? Comment on any subject overlap between this course and topics generally taught by other departments, even if no similar courses are currently offered by the other departments. Explain any effects that this proposal will have on program requirements or enrollments in other department. Please forward letters (email communication is sufficient) from all departments that you have identified above stating their support or opposition to the proposed course. There is an undergraduate elementary math methods course (EDUC 4300)which covers the pedagogy of teaching math. There are no current undergraduate courses which teach the math content with the depth required by the state endorsement. The proposed course teaches the pedagogy through the mathematical concepts at an advanced level. 4. Is this course required for certification/accreditation of a program? no If so, a statement to that effect should appear in the justification and supporting documents should accompany this form. 5. For course proposals, e-mail a syllabus to Faculty Senate which should be sufficiently detailed that the committees can determine that the course is at the appropriate level and matches the description. There should be an indication of the amount and type of outside activity required in the course (projects, research papers, homework, etc.).

Syllabus

Course Title:   Mathematics for Teaching – Geometry and Measurement

Course Number:        MTHE 6770

Course Credit Hours: 3 credit hours

Prerequisites:             Elementary teaching experience

Catalog Description: 

To provide practicing teachers a deeper understanding of the geometry and measurement content that exists in the state core and instructional strategies to facilitate the instruction of this content.

Course Objectives:

During this course teachers will:

·         Increase geometry and measurement content knowledge.

·         Model and represent geometric and measurement concepts and relationships. 

·         Improve problem solving skills using geometry and measurement.

·         Reason about, justify, and analyze geometric and measurement relationships including writing proofs.

·         Communicate geometric and measurement ideas orally, visually, and in writing.

·         Use a variety of tools including technology to enhance classroom instruction and increase student understanding of geometry and measurement.

Suggested Texts:

Parker, T. H. & Baldridge, S. J. (2004).  Elementary Geometry for Teachers.  USA: Sefton-Ash Publishing. 

Ministry of Education, Singapore (1981).  Primary Mathematics 1B-6B,Marshall Cavendish Education, 2003.

References:

Course Coverage:

1.      Measurement: notion of measuring, English and metric standard units of measurement and their conversion, non-standard units of measurement.

2.      Line and Angle Relationships:  parallel, perpendicular, intersecting, and concurrent lines, angles formed by parallel lines cut by a transversal, vertical angles, supplementary and complementary angles, prove angles congruent using auxiliary lines.

3.      Attributes of Geometric Figures:  definition of polygon, classifying triangles and quadrilaterals, relationship between sides and angles in polygons, sum of measures of interior angles, sums of measures of exterior angles, number of diagonals, regular polygons and their properties, symmetry of polygons

4.      Constructions:  copy line segments and angles, bisect angles and line segments, construct parallel and perpendicular lines (through a given point), construct triangles, construct the circle circumscribed about a triangle or inscribed in a triangle, construct medians and altitudes of triangles and practice proofs.

5.      Transformations and Tessellations:  rotations, translations, reflections and their composites (using coordinate system), transformations of geometric figures including decomposing and recombining geometric figures, tessellations of the plane by regular polygons and irregular shapes,

6.      Definitions and Axiomatic Nature of Geometry:  undefined and defined terms, axioms for plane geometry  including the parallel postulate.

7.      Similarity and Congruence:  similar triangles, scale factors, similarity and congruence tests for triangles and quadrilaterals, proving facts about side-lengths and angles using triangles.

8.      Circles:  definition of circle, radius, diameter, chord, secant, tangent, circumference, π defined as the ratio of the circumference to the diameter, central and inscribed angles, arcs, and sectors, area of a circle and a sector.

9.      Pythagorean Theorem:  prove the Pythagorean theorem and its converse, square roots and Pythagorean triples, special right triangles (isosceles right triangle and 30-60-90 triangles)

10.  Perimeter and Area:  introduce square units, derive formulas for rectangles, parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids, application of Pythagorean theorem to area, find the area and perimeter of geometric figures by decomposing, explore how scaling affects area. 

11.  Surface Area and Volume:  derive surface area and volume formulas for prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones (including oblique),  and spheres, compute surface area and volume, convert volume units and show how scaling affects area and volume.