Fall 2020 has been an unusual semester. My future teachers and I have spent the last few months exploring possibilities for mathematics teaching (online!) during a global pandemic, a national movement for racial justice, and a divisive presidential election. At times it has been difficult to focus on mathematics teaching and learning, but in other moments, the challenging circumstances have provided opportunities to consider the importance of relating to students as humans (not just learners) who need compassion, understanding, and flexibility from their teachers.

Although minor, a recent challenge arose as Dr. Rosenberg (the science methods instructor) and I brainstormed some ideas for wrapping up the semester. We wanted to bring our two groups of future teachers together for a fourth and final time to reflect on the course, make connections across math & science teaching, and to celebrate. Together, Dr. Rosenberg and I identified 10 key ideas that apply to both mathematics and science teaching, and we asked our students to create infographics to summarize their take-aways about each key idea.

  • Inquiry-based instruction
  • Authentic, phenomena-based learning
  • Core ideas in mathematics & science
  • Classroom norms
  • Students’ understanding about/to change the world
  • Student-centered instruction
  • Eliciting student ideas/thinking
  • Collaborative learning
  • Classroom discourse
  • Multiple solution strategies, representations, and models

Our hope is that this infographics will serve as a quick reminder for the future teachers who created them and for other teachers to continually reflect on and improve their teaching practices, so as to make mathematics and science learning possible for every student.

View the infographics and read more about the 10 key ideas of mathematics & science teaching here.