Oxton House Publishers, LLC

Teach Math thru Its History

Topics in Arithmetic & Pre-Algebra

A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

by William Berlinghoff, Ph.D.

Workshop: Math thru Its History

Where? When?

How much?

Click here
for details.

Made by Serif

“How can I help my students make sense of fractions and negative numbers?”

“Some of my students don’t really get place value. Is there a different approach that might help them?”

This workshop’s topics are in the Numbers and Operations parts of the NCTM Focal Points for grades 5 - 8, and are basic to the curriculum and assessment guidelines of most states. Moreover, fractions and negatives give many students trouble well into high school, limiting their success in algebra and all future work in math, science, business, and the technical trades — in fact, in any field that uses numbers.

Dr. Berlinghoff’s approach implements the spirit of the NCTM’s 2009 document, Reasoning and Sense Making. Each step in the development of mathematics builds on what has come before.
The things that students need to know now come from questions answered in the past. Knowing their history helps students to understand, remember, and use today’s mathematical tools to deal with the problems of tomorrow.

Each participant receives a free copy of Pathways from the Past, Set I, a 64-page handbook and set of 19 reproducible student activity sheets.

I. History in Math Class: First Thoughts

Why should I use history? How will it help my students learn the math they need? What do I need to know before I start?

II. Writing Whole Numbers: Place Value

Learn about our base-ten, place-value system by comparing it with ancient systems — Egyptian, Babylonian, Mayan, Roman — that did not have one or more of its essential properties.

III. Zero Is Not Nothing: Special Properties of Zero

See the different roles of zero in elementary math: as a place holder, as a number, and as a valuable tool in solving equations.

IV. Broken Numbers: Fraction Arithmetic

Trace unit fractions back to ancient Egypt.
See how the Babylonians’ of place-value fractions foreshadowed decimals.
Translate the Latin numerator and denominator as “counting parts.”
Connect place value with decimals and percent.

V. Less than Nothing?: Negative Numbers

How long did it take for negatives to be recognized as numbers?
Why do the rules for signed numbers work the way they do?
What makes ordering negatives puzzling and difficult?
How can patterns guide our thinking about negative numbers?

The Day

8:00-8:30 Continental Breakfast

8:30-9:15 Introduction & Part I

9:15 - 10:15 Part II

10:15 - 10:30 Break

10:30-11:00 Part II, cont’d

11:00-12:00 Part III

12:00-12:45 Lunch

12:45-2:00 Part IV

2:00-2:15 Break

2:15-3:15 Part V

3:15-3:30 Closing Comments

6-hour professional development
Certificates of Attendance
will be provided.

Set I: Using History to Teach Numbers, Numerals,
and Arithmetic

Writing Numbers in Base Ten

Zero in Arithmetic and Algebra

Fractions, Decimals, & Percent

Negative Numbers