Fostering Algebraic Thinking: A Guide for Teachers, Grades 6-10

by Mark Driscoll

Read a sample chapter from (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)! Fostering Algebraic Thinking is a timely and welcome resource for middle and high school teachers hoping to ease their students' transition to algebra. Drawing on his experiences with three professional development programs, author Mark Driscoll outlines key "habits of thinking" that characterize the successful learning and use of algebra. He offers strategies teachers can use to cultivate these habits of thinking and guidelines for assessing students' development. Fostering Algebraic Thinking is organized according to the critical challenges algebra teachers face. Excerpts from discussions among the classroom teachers who participated in the professional development projects help place these issues in context. Each chapter also includes activities to encourage teachers to reflect on how they think about algebra and how that thinking informs their practice. There are also samples and analyses of student work to help teachers identify patterns of algebraic thinking along with questions and strategies that can be used to guide and extend students' thinking.

Genres: Education, Mathematics, Teaching

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a whole new framework for thinking about algebraic reasoning. It's the type of read that makes you want to go back and rethink your entire curriculum--in a good way. As a math coach, I'm going to try and use the ideas, questions, and tasks in this book as an anchor for my 6th - 8th teachers.

I'm not a fan of the book's organization. But that's my only qualm. Someone mentioned that the book is dated, but I couldn't disagree more. The current climate of the common core demands that we develop students' thinking. The problems in this book are some of the best I've ever seen!! They're simply worded, and incredibly open-ended. A group of teachers could develop their own algebraic reasoning by delving into some of these problems!

Thanks, Mark Driscoll!

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mathematics tasks, on almost every page.

Yes, I read this for school. It was a great asset to the class, though, and both Algebraic Thinking and Geometric Thinking are well written and not conflated like so many other books in this vein.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for the class I had to take by law to recertify.
Not a bad book, but not a new book either.
More recent research is available.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important ideas for all grade levels, curriculum and lesson planning. I especially like the stance of multiple models, coaching through specific questions, setting up the culture and essential questions that makes for an exciting and inclusive math classroom.