As part of her session, titled “Supporting Gender Diversity among Youth by Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice, ” Rands shared the plan for a middle grades mathematics project in which students use proportional reasoning and statistical concepts to engage with national survey data about how often peers “do or say something” when they hear negative comments about someone’s gender expression.  

The project provides opportunities for students to then develop their own surveys, analyze data and take action in their own school context.

More than 65 teachers from across the state attended the session.

SMART Boards and other types of Interactive White Boards are becoming increasingly prevalent in North Carolina classrooms and classrooms around the world. Interactive White Boards are white boards that integrate computer technology to allow teachers and students to interact with and manipulate virtual objects and images on the board. While the new technology provides useful features that can enhance teaching and learning, students will only benefit if the tasks teachers design and use are worthwhile tasks that foster students reasoning and conceptual understanding.

The presenters shared a theoretical framework for creating and evaluating worthwhile fraction tasks using SMART Board technology. The presenters then shared several examples of worthwhile fraction tasks which encourage students to reason about equivalent fractions, explain and justify their reasoning, critique others’ arguments, and build conceptual understandings of equivalent fractions. The tasks provide opportunities for students to use multiple strategies and approach the tasks in different ways.

The teachers who attended the session have received copies of the tasks to try with their own students using the interactive whiteboard in their classrooms. The presenters also encouraged the teachers to modify and adapt the tasks to meet the needs of their students.