CAHSEE Lessons for Success CMC Conference Palm Springs, 11708

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CAHSEE Lessons for SuccessCMC ConferencePalm
Springs, 11/7/08

• Ivan Cheng
• Wendy Schroeder

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CAHSEE Lessons for Success

• Granted funded project
• Los Angeles Valley College
• Los Angeles Unified School Disrict
• California State University Northridge

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The Current Situation

• Students are unsuccessful in CAHSEE
• Despite taking up to 4 years of high school math
  classes
• Despite taking district review courses on
  Saturdays
• Despite completing HS graduation
  requirements
• Students lack confidence
• Students mystified

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The Traditional Approach

• More review of basic skills
• More practice with CAHSEE prep books
• More materials, more Saturdays, more formulas to
  memorize, more, more, more

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The Traditional Approach

• Students who do not have a deep understanding of
  mathematics suspect that it is just a jumble of
  unrelated procedures and incomprehensible
  formulas.
• Mathematics Framework
• for California Public Schools (2005), p. 5

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Scrambled Numbers

• Locate numbers consecutively and circle them
• Lets try that again
• Whats different this time?
• How did it feel this time?

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A New Approach

• Focus on thinking instead of topics
• Lessons organized by themes
• You Can Do It (confidence building,
  demystifying CAHSEE)
• Language of Math (representing data)
• What Does It Mean? (interpreting data)
• Meaningful Relationships (patterns, rates,
  ratios)
• Things are Shaping Up (geometric relationships,
  ratios)
• Playing by the Rules (operations, rules,
  polynomials)
• Say It Again (multiple representations)
• Take a Chance (working with probability)
• Whats the Problem? (reasoning, problem
  solving)
• Practice Makes Perfect (error analysis,
  demystifying CAHSEE)
• Skills threaded rather than isolated

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A New Approach

• Organization of lessons
• Two or three focus lessons using a variety of
  activities
• Conceptual understanding and computational
  fluency
• Key thinking processes linked across topics
• Skills threaded rather than isolated
• Unscrambling and making sense to change
  attitudes
• Contextualizing concepts to make abstract ideas
  concrete
• Repackaging concepts creatively to promote
  retention
• Using patterns and explorations to promote
  generalizations
• Multiple representations to show meaningful
  relationships
• Frequent successful experiences to build
  confidence

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job
• Multiplication Magic

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job
• Multiplication Magic
• Four Squares

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job
• Multiplication Magic
• Four Squares
• Boxed Numbers

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job
• Multiplication Magic
• Four Squares
• Boxed Numbers
• Percents Practice

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job
• Multiplication Magic
• Four Squares
• Boxed Numbers
• Percents Practice
• Percent of a Day

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A New Approach

• Example Using proportional reasoning
• Growing Pains
• On the Road
• On the Job
• Multiplication Magic
• Four Squares
• Boxed Numbers
• Percents Practice
• Percent of a Day
• Percents Practice

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Thank YouCMC ConferencePalm Springs, 11/7/08

• Ivan Cheng
• Wendy Schroeder