Algebra is the language that must be mastered for any course that uses math because it is the gateway for entry into any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline. This book fosters mastery of critical math and algebraic concepts and skills essential to all of the STEM disciplines and some of the social sciences. This book is written by practitioners whose primary teaching subject is not math but who use math extensively in their courses in STEM disciplines, social science statistics, and their own research. Moreover, in the writing of this book, the authors have used the teaching principles of anchoring, overlearning, pruning the course to its essentials, and using simple and familiar language in word problems.
Algebra is the language that must be mastered for any course that uses math because it is the gateway for entry into any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline. Math Remediation for the College Bound fosters mastery of critical math and algebraic concepts and skills essential to all of the STEM disciplines and some of the social sciences. This booklet is designed to accompany the main book, Math Remediation for the College-Bound: How Teachers Can Close the Gap, from the Basics through Algebra. With the exception of Chapters 1 and 2, each chapter of the booklet consists of five sections: (1) practice homework, (2) a sample test, (3) the answers to selected and numbered exercises corresponding to their numbering in the book, (4) answers to the practice homework, and (5) answers to sample tests. This pattern begins with Chapter 3 and continues for the remainder of the book.
Algebra is the language that must be mastered for any course that uses math because it is the gateway for entry into any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline. This book fosters mastery of critical math and algebraic concepts and skills essential to all of the STEM disciplines and some of the social sciences. This book is written by practitioners whose primary teaching subject is not math but who use math extensively in their courses in STEM disciplines, social science statistics, and their own research. Moreover, in the writing of this book, the authors have used the teaching principles of anchoring, overlearning, pruning the course to its essentials, and using simple and familiar language in word problems.
Standard math and science textbooks typically follow a deductive style of content presentation that involves too much lecturing, too much of the teacher’s back at the chalkboard, too little interaction with students, and too little time for all of the students to take adequate notes. By reading and using A Teaching Guide to Revitalizing STEM Education, educators will rediscover how to streamline the subject matter— math, physics, statistics, and organic chemistry—by eliminating unnecessary difficulties and distractions from course textbooks. A useful guide for both high school teachers and postsecondary faculty, this book explains how to organize, arrange, and streamline STEM content so that it is approachable, understandable, and applicable for students. Likewise, this guide discusses important classroom management skills and pedagogical techniques that will help students master these critical subjects. Providing and explaining over a dozen lesson plans, A Teaching Guide to Revitalizing STEM Education will encourage educators to effectively optimize the recent emphases on science, technology, engineering, and math education.
This book addresses a problem that affects the work of all educators: how traditional methods of assessment undermine the capacity of schools to serve students with diverse cultural and social backgrounds and identities. Anchored in a commonsense notion of validity, this book explains how current K-12 assessment practices are grounded in the language, experiences, and values of the dominant White culture. It presents a timely review of research on bias in classroom and large-scale assessments, as well as research on how students' level of engagement influences their performances. The author recommends practices that can improve the validity of students' assessment performances by minimizing sources of bias, using culturally responsive assessment tools, and adopting strategies likely to increase students' engagement with assessment tasks. This practical resource provides subject-specific approaches for improving the cultural and social relevance of assessment tools and offers guidance for evaluating existing assessment instruments for bias, language complexity, and accessibility issues. Book Features: Research-based recommendations for improving assessment fairness, validity, and cultural/social relevance. Practices that have been shown to improve the effectiveness of classroom assessments in supporting student learning. Concrete examples of how to create culturally relevant assessment tasks that target valued learning goals in language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science classrooms. Appendixes that provide tools educators can use to improve grading practices.
This book exposes a disturbing misuse of the scientific method to advance policies and agendas that are in fact detrimental to both science and education. The author, a physics professor, examines two related trends in education – the practice of “data-driven” reform and the disparaging of the traditional liberal arts in favor of programs with a heavy emphasis on science and technology. Many of the reforms being foisted on educators have more in common with pseudo-science than real science. The reduction of education to a commodity, and the shilling of science as a means to enhance corporate profits, lead to an impoverished and stunted understanding of science in particular, and of education in general. How is it possible for: • schools with all students learning at grade-level to be rated as failing?• teachers to be rated as ineffective after all their students meet their learning outcomes?• rising grade-school math standards to result in more college students needing remedial math?• politicians to disparage scientists and their results but argue that more students should study science? These bizarre outcomes have happened and are the result of an education system that misuses and misrepresents math and science in the classroom and in crafting education policies. This book exposes the flawed and fallacious thinking that is damaging education at all levels throughout the United States, and makes a compelling case for rethinking the standardized, optimized, and quantified approaches in vogue in education today to accommodate the different needs of individual teachers and students.
“If you read only one book on educating children, this should be the book.… With a warm, informative voice, Bauer gives you the knowledge that will help you flex the educational model to meet the needs of your child.” —San Francisco Book Review Our K–12 school system isn’t a good fit for all—or even most—students. It prioritizes a single way of understanding the world over all others, pushes children into a rigid set of grades with little regard for individual maturity, and slaps “disability” labels on differences in learning style. Caught in this system, far too many young learners end up discouraged. This informed, compassionate, and practical guidebook will show you how to take control of your child’s K–12 experience and negotiate the school system in a way that nurtures your child’s mind, emotions, and spirit. Understand why we have twelve grades, and why we match them to ages. Evaluate your child’s maturity, and determine how to use that knowledge to your advantage. Find out what subject areas we study in school, why they exist—and how to tinker with them. Discover what learning disabilities and intellectual giftedness are, how they can overlap, how to recognize them, and how those labels can help (or hinder) you. Work effectively with your child’s teachers, tutors, and coaches. Learn to teach important subjects yourself. Challenge accepted ideas about homework and standardized testing. Help your child develop a vision for the future. Reclaim your families’ priorities (including time for eating together, playing, imagining, traveling, and, yes, sleeping!). Plan for college—or apprenticeships. Consider out-of-the-box alternatives.
