Chapter 17: Key Features of MathScape for Professional Development
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Published:2008
Fred Gross, Emily R. Fagan, 2008. "Key Features of MathScape for Professional Development", A Decade of Middle School Mathematics Curriculum Implementation: Lessons Learned from the Show-Me Project, Margaret R. Meyer, Cynthia W. Langrall, Fran Arbaugh, David C. Webb, Murrel Brewer Hoover
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Creating a professional development plan is central to preparing for and sustaining the successful implementation of new curriculum materials. A sound professional development plan for implementing MathScape: Seeing and Thinking Mathematically (Education Development Center, Inc., 1998, 2005) will incorporate effective techniques such as discussions and hands-on activities that uncover the key philosophical principles and the overall structure of the curriculum. This chapter outlines key characteristics of MathScape that distinguish it from similar programs, and that should guide the design of any professional development that prepares teachers to use MathScape in their classrooms.
MathScape’s developers were guided by a vision of mathematics classrooms in which all students are successful in learning significant mathematics. This vision encompasses many dimensions, best expressed in the words of Kleiman, Fagan, Janssen, Brodesky, and Tobin (2007):
