MATHS 392 (3)
Teaching Mathematics to Learners with Disabilities
1. Prerequisites
Qualifying score on Gateway Examination; MATHS 207 with a C- or better grade or both MATHS 201 and 202 with a C- or better grades. Admittance to Teacher Education and permission to enroll in 300/400-level professional education courses. Open only to special education majors.
2. Course Description
Introduction to standards, instructional materials and methods, and assessment, with emphasis on how these relate to the teaching of mathematics to learners with disabilities. Class ideas applied in teaching situations. Three one-hour lectures and one one-hour laboratory experience per week. May not be substituted for MATHS 391.
3. Course Objectives
To become familiar with state and national mathematics standards.
To become familiar with available mathematics teaching resources and learn how to adapt them for learners with disabilities.
To become familiar with various mathematics manipulatives and how to appropriately use them with learners with disabilities.
To become familiar with current pedagogy in teaching mathematics.
To develop and evaluate various mathematics assessment strategies.
To gain experience in developing appropriate mathematics lesson plans and using those plans to teach learners with disabilities.
4. Course Rationale
This course is designed to acquaint students with current mathematics pedagogy and prepare them to become effective teachers of mathematics to learners with disabilities.
5. Course Content
Problem solving, communication, reasoning and proof, connections, and representations and how each of these relates to teaching mathematics to learners with disabilities in each of the following five content areas: algebra, geometry, measurement, number and operations, and data analysis and probability.
Planning appropriate teaching activities and using appropriate assessment techniques across the five content areas.
6. Course Format
Lecture days will consist of small and/or large group discussions as well as traditional lectures on course content. Laboratory days will consist of supervised teaching of student-prepared lessons and supervised practice incorporating various instructional strategies. A TI-73 graphing calculator is required.
7. Methods of Evaluating Student Performance
May include but not be limited to the following: development of teaching plans, group and/or individual projects, tests and/or quizzes, writing assignments, professional preparation, attendance, and participation, teaching performance.
8. Evaluation of the Course
The instruction of the course is evaluated by departmental student evaluations and peer evaluations. The course is reviewed and revised periodically by the departmental Teacher Education Advisory Committee and Undergraduate Programs Committee.
9. Addendum
The following are examples of supplemental materials that could be used in teaching this course.
Windows of Opportunity: Mathematics for Students with Special Needs, Carol Thorton and Nancy Bley (Eds.), National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Reston, VA, 1994.
Professional Journals:
Teaching Children Mathematics
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School
Mathematics Teacher
Videotapes:
Teaching Math: A Video Library, K-4, 5-8, 9-12, Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Collection
Mathematics with Manipulatives by Marilyn Burns
Prepared by A. Leitze, L. Robinson, and D. Toll
January 2001
Revised by S. Stump
March 2007