Four Graduate Courses Come to Central Nebraska
With the NeSA-M now in place, Nebraska teachers of all grade levels are stepping up to strengthen mathematics achievement in their schools. Now more than ever teachers need new learning opportunities to help them offer high quality math courses to their students. The Nebraska Math and Science Summer Institutes (NMSSI) offer graduate mathematics and pedagogy courses using a teacher-friendly delivery model that helps teachers respond to this challenge.
To make the NMSSI professional development opportunities more affordable, UNL has agreed to offer tuition discounts to Nebraska teachers who take our summer courses. Nebraska teachers automatically qualify for a Tuition Fellowship (20% of in-state tuition) for these graduate courses. By applying through Teach Nebraska, the $50 grad school admission fee is also waived. Teachers may apply for additional fellowships from NMSSI to help cover tuition costs. http://scimath.unl.edu/nmssi.
Four NMSSI courses for middle-level/secondary mathematics teachers are coming to Central Nebraska this June. MATH 800T: Math as a Second Language will be held in Kearney from June 3-7; MATH 802T: Functions, Algebra and Geometry will be held in Hastings from June 3-7; MATH 804T: Experimentation, Conjecture and Reasoning will be in Grand Island from June 17-21; and MATH 807T: Using Mathematics to Understand our World will be in Holdrege from June 3-7. Each course is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and includes free lunch. You also may have received a flier about these courses at school over the past week.
MATH 800T (Class # 2954, Sec # 951 in Kearney) will help you align your teaching with the new Nebraska standards and the new Common Core standards in mathematics by focusing on the development of "habits of mind of a mathematical thinker". The approach is to understand arithmetic (number) and (introductory) algebra as a means of communicating mathematical ideas, and will stress a deep understanding of the basic operations of arithmetic, as well as the interconnected nature of arithmetic, algebra and geometry relating to the grades 3-7 curriculum. Dr. Pari Ford at UNK will be the lead instructor of the course.
MATH 802T (Class # 3427, Sec # 953 in Hastings) is designed to help teachers gain a deep understanding of the concept of function and the algebra and geometry concepts taught in the middle-level (through early high school) curriculum. Studying this content at a deeper level will help teachers better prepare their students for the NeSA-M. Participants also will study measurement with an emphasis on length, area and volume. Alicia Davis, a teacher at Hastings Middle School and a Noyce Master Teacher at UNL, will be the lead instructor of the course.
MATH 804T (Class # 3412, Sec # 952 in Grand Island) focuses on problem solving, reasoning and proof and communicating mathematics. The overall goal for this course is to bring participants to the next level in the development of their mathematical habits of mind: A person who is an effective mathematical thinker has a toolbox of skills and knowledge to experiment, conjecture, reason, and ultimately solve problems. Jill Edgren, a teacher at Wood River and a Noyce Master Teacher at UNL, will be the lead instructor of the course.
MATH 807T (Class # 10187, Sec # 951 in Holdrege) will examine the mathematics underlying several socially-relevant questions from a variety of academic disciplines. Mathematical models of problems will be constructed and studied using a variety of topics and basic skills in algebra, functions, statistics and probability. Sources will include original documentation whenever possible (such as government data, reports and research papers) in order to provide a sense of the very real role that mathematics plays in society. Dan Schaben, a teacher at Arapahoe High School and a Noyce Master Teacher at UNL, will be the lead instructor of the course.
Visit our website http://scimath.unl.edu/nmssi for our complete course catalog for this summer as well as steps on how to enroll and apply for tuition assistance. Contact Lindsay Augustyn at laugustyn2@unl.edu with questions.
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Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education
http://scimath.unl.edu/nmssi