Elementary Geometry for Teachers is the sequel to Elementary Mathematics for Teachers (EMFT) by Parker and Baldridge. Elementary Geometry for Teachers is designed for the second semester of a mathematics course for prospective elementary teachers that is taught by mathematics faculty. This text takes prospective teachers through the development of measurement and geometry in grades K-8; it also includes material on probability and data analysis. Elementary Geometry for Teachers covers both the mathematics and other aspects of the K-8 geometry curriculum. For this purpose, this text — like EMFT — is used in conjunction with six school textbooks from Singapore (two of these are also used with EMFT). The homework sets include exercises that ask students to read a section in a Primary Mathematics book, do the problems, and then study the material from a teachers’ perspective, thinking about which skills are developed, how the problems are organized, what the prerequisite knowledge is, what order topics are developed, etc. Features:
The Primary Mathematics textbooks serve as teacher guides. They provide examples and activities that teachers can use in their classrooms and that help teachers understand what is important in K-8 geometry. The Primary Mathematics books were chosen because of their clarity, organization, low cost and their exceptional fidelity to mathematics. Studying the Primary Mathematics books prepares teachers for teaching from any elementary school materials. Furthermore, as prospective teachers work though these books, they are constantly aware that the pace, the breadth and the difficulty of the problems in the Primary Mathematics books are at a higher level than what they experienced in their own elementary education. They come away with new expectations about the mathematics capabilities of elementary students. Elementary Geometry for Teachers pays special attention to two themes: Developing skills at solving problems involving measurements. International comparisons indicate that U.S. students are especially weak at solving problems involving measurements. These skills are important prerequisites for middle and high school science. Elementary Geometry for Teachers builds teachers’ facility at solving such problems by following the Primary Mathematics curriculum through the grades. The problem below is one of a sequence of Grade 5 “tank problems.”
Unknown angle problems. One reason for studying geometry is to acquire skill at logical reasoning. The Primary Mathematics books develop geometric reasoning in depth. In grades 4-6, students are introduced to a specific collection of geometric facts (e.g. the sum of interior angles of a triangle is 180° and opposite angles in a parallelogram are equal. These are used to solve entertaining puzzles like the one below. As they work through Elementary Geometry for Teachers, teachers solve such problems and learn to write Teacher Solutions that display the reasoning.
Supplementary TextsThe Elementary Geometry for Teacher textbook is designed to be used in conjunction with the following five Primary Mathematics books (all are U.S. Edition) and one New Elementary Mathematics book.
The Primary Mathematics series is printed as one course book per semester, each with an accompanying workbooks. The semesters are labeled ‘A’ and ‘B’ , so ‘5A’ refers to the first semester of Grade 5. In each grade, the first semester focuses mainly on numbers and arithmetic, while the second semester focuses more on measurement and geometry. For teachers using Primary Mathematics Standards Edition textbooks and workbooks, here is a link to the EGFT homework adaption for the Standards Edition. This homework adaption may be printed out and used at no cost by teachers using the EGFT textbook. They may not be sold or incorporated into any other document.
California State University Los Angeles California State University Northridge Los Angeles Pierce College University of Colorado Denver University of Northern Colorado Greenville College Indiana University Wartburg College Kansas State University Louisiana State University Fitchburg State University Middlesex Community College Salem State University Worcester State College Michigan State University University of Michigan Wayne State College Westchester Community College Oklahoma State University Pennsylvania State University Altoona East Tennessee State University Northeast State Technical Community College Tusculum College University of Memphis Texas Tech University Weber State University Longwood University University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Elementary Geometry for Teachers
1. Learning to Measure
1.1 Measurement Problems
1.2 Measuring Length
1.3 Measuring Weight and Capacity
1.4 Measuring Angles
2. Geometric Figures
2.1 Fundamental Geometric Ideas
2.2 Triangles
2.3 Symmetry and Triangles
2.4 Parallelograms, Rhombuses and Trapezoids
2.5 Geometric Constructions
3. Finding Unknown Angles
3.1 Unknown Angle Problems
3.2 Finding Angles Using Parallel Lines
3.3 Angles of a Polygon
4. Deductive Geometry
4.1 Unknown Angle Proofs
4.2 Congruent Triangles
4.3 Applying Congruences
4.4 Congruences in Quadrilaterals
4.5 Transformations and Tessellations
5. Area
5.1 Area Units
5.2 Rectangles and Area Properties
5.3 Area of Triangles, Parallelograms and Trapezoids
6. Pythagorean Theorem with Applications
6.1 Pythagorean Theorem
6.2 Square Roots and Pythagorean Triples
6.3 Special Triangles and Further Applications
7. Similarity
7.1 Introducing Similarity and Similar Right Triangles
7.2 Similar Triangles
7.3 Coordinate Systems and Slope
7.4 Similar Right Triangles and Trigonometry
8. Area Concepts and Circles
8.1 Converting Area Units and Scaling
8.2 Circles and Pi
8.3 Area of Circles and Sectors
8.4 Approximation and Accuracy
9. Volume and Surface Area
9.1 Introducing Volume
9.2 Metric Volume
9.3 Prisms and Cylinders
9.4 Pyramids and Cones
9.5 Spheres
10. Data Displays, Probability and Statistics
10.1 Data Displays
10.2 Center and Dispersion of Data Sets
10.3 Probability
10.4 Inferential Statistics
10.5. Appendix: Other Ways to Display Data
Bibliography
Index
Samples