The Math Learning Center Blog

Playground consultant—this sounds like a dream job for a fourth grader, doesn’t it? Sheridan Elementary School teacher Lisa Gross thought so. After beginning a Bridges STEM unit on playground design and simple machines, she reached out to the parks department in the city of Lake Forest, Illinois, to see if there was an opportunity for her students. Her class of fourth graders is now consulting...

I’m sure all of you have heard about the underrepresentation of women in the professional fields of Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM). I’ve recently written quite a bit about this situation, and links to these materials are in the references given below. Current research and school performance results show that girls are as capable as boys in the STEM disciplines. As educators, you...

Over the years, many educators ate more than their share of eggs in order to collect enough cartons for students to study fractions. A time-tested model for fractions, egg cartons breathe new life when paired with MLC’s free app, Number Frames. (And you won’t have to eat quite so many eggs!) In a few short steps, you can learn how to use the Number Frames App to create egg carton fraction models...

If you are involved in education, or perhaps just watch the news, you’ve probably heard plenty of stories about controversial issues in U.S. education. From the testing changes to gender disparities in achievement to tracking practices, it’s easy to get caught up in the debates. Math, a subject that provokes anxiety for many, is a central focus for many of these discussions. Fortunately, Jo Boaler...

Stanford professor Jo Boaler is working to change attitudes about math education. She observes that many of us grew up with these convictions: Only smart people can do math. The right answer is the only thing that matters. Questions show ignorance. Math is about following rules and procedures. Math is a solitary endeavor. If you’re slow at math, you can’t be good at it. Boaler counters with...

Higher levels of student engagement have been shown to increase student success. If you search Scholar.Google.com , you’ll find studies from around the world showing that students who are the most engaged generally do better in school and beyond. Below are three items we think you need to see to help your students engage with learning in your classroom. Before Class The old adage holds true: If...

We often use a demonstration number rack when reviewing addition and subtraction strategies. It’s an excellent tool that’s proven invaluable in instruction. But don’t overlook the power of individual number racks to encourage students to be more involved. Several years ago, our third grade team created small number racks for our students to use as we worked on addition and subtraction facts. My...

School is in full swing, and so is MLC’s Twitter account. Teachers are sharing tweets and pictures of students at Number Corner, students helping classmates, and students just plain having fun learning math. One of the things we are passionate about with Bridges in Mathematics is that students learn more than just math. Bridges helps them explain their thinking, evaluate various methods, and work...

Many people working to improve our educational system appear to be looking backward. They fix on measures of success that were deemed worthy in the past, and they strive to have our schools perform still better in meeting these measures. The world, however, is changing. And many of these past indicators of achievement are becoming less important for today’s students. Tony Wagner is one of my...

Since the start of the school year, we’ve been working on the protocol of think-pair-share in our classroom. Sometimes getting kindergarteners to stop talking and doing—and even to stop listening, and to just think—is like trying to herd cats! Prompts or cues are always helpful to guide their behavior. MLC has since developed a set of posters to use in your classroom. These are wonderful reminders...