Professional LEARNING
New Normal Problem-Based Learning Program
Fostering New Norms for Teaching and Learning in Secondary & Post-Secondary Mathematics Classrooms
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About This Program
Led by experienced mathematics professional developers and teachers with expertise in problem-based learning, the New Normal professional development program supports the evolving content and pedagogical needs of the problem-based enthusiasts in secondary schools and institutions of higher education.
New Normal is focused on the use of evidence-based high leverage practices and a progression of purposefully sequenced conceptually-grounded lessons targeting content that research has suggested have been gatekeepers for success at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Each summer, New Normal PBL Academy participants engage in rich mathematics learning experiences that:
- promote a common vision for what problem-based, student thinking centered mathematics classrooms look like, feel like, and sound like;
- develop both the skills and disposition to promote highly engaging conceptually-grounded Common Core inspired lessons in their classrooms;
- build local and state level leadership capacity through engagement in job-embedded face-to-face and on-line professional learning (action research); and
- provide opportunities for teachers, coaches, and administrators to individually and collectively pursue a stance of inquiry, reflection, and ongoing learning regarding their efforts to support deeper and more enduring mathematics learning environments in their schools.
PROMOTING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN DELAWARE MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS
The Delaware Mathematics Coalition is committed to creating classrooms where all students have access to rich problem-based tasks, feel safe sharing and building on one another’s ideas and engaging in productive struggle, and students work together as a community to make sense of the mathematics. Problem-based learning embodies the principles of conceptual teaching as students grapple with problems and key ideas and connections are made explicit (Hiebert & Grouws, 2007).
The following narrative is intended to help secondary and post secondary math teachers, coaches, and administrators develop an image of what it would look like to engage students in problem-based learning. The narrative was inspired by the members of the Delaware Mathematics Coalition New Normal Community and authored by the following mathematics leaders Jon Manon (UD), Jamila Riser (DMC), Janice McCarthy (UD), Valerie Maxwell (DMC), Brian Lawler (University of Georgia), and Corey Webel (University of Missouri).
Resource Links
Engaging in Common Core Mathematical Practices
This protocol was designed to help teachers reflect on the progress they are making in terms of shifting their instructional practices to align with the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice. The descriptors are aligned with the Delaware DPAS 2 framework.
Higher Ed Professors Talk About How to Achieve PBL
University of Delaware mathematics professors Dr. John Pelesko and Glberto Schleiniger talk about how to achieve problem-based learning in the mathematics classroom and what teacher practices are best suited for creating a PBL environment.
Illustrative Math Authors Describe the Elements of PBL
Illustrative Mathematics Program authors have invested in promoting a problem-based approach to learning mathematics. “In order to learn mathematics, students should spend time in math class doing mathematics. ‘Students learn mathematics as a result of solving problems. Mathematical ideas are the outcomes of the problem-solving experience rather than the elements that must be taught before problem solving.”
https://curriculum.illustrativemathematics.org/HS/teachers/what_is_pbc.html
Visit Francis Su’s Math Fun Facts & Problem Solving website. The site includes links to a range of puzzling problems, organized by content strand (Algebra, Geometry, Probability, etc.). Each fun fact includes a short article that explains more about the fact.
Participant Reviews
