cvonrenesse's blog

Blog Posts by Dr. Christine von Renesse

Student exploring straight-cut origami

Homework Stories: Observing Student Thinking.

I want my students to learn how to write about their thinking. Therefore, my assignments have to be written in full sentences, explain everything in detail and convey the mathematical concepts. They can also contain the story of how the student discovered the solution, including all struggles and mistakes.

Faculty working in a small group

Our Faculty Workshops

What do our faculty workshops actually look like? What are some of the pedagogical tools and techniques participants get to explore? In this blog, we describe a few faculty workshop activities.

Whole Class Discussion: Show of Hands

Whole Class Discussions

This semester we are video taping our IBL classes and as I am watching the videos I am reflecting (again) on all the pieces necessary for a productive whole class discussion. My goal for a discussion is to make the “Big Mathematical Ideas” visible by having students construct connections between different solution strategies or attempts.

Dance symmetry - Student proof 2

Mathematics & Dance Proofs

We found all positions for two dancers that exhibit both reflectional and 180 degree rotational symmetry. After the students discovered their conjectures, I asked them to prove that their conjectures were correct. This was our first activity of the semester and the students were new to the cycle of exploration - definitions - conjectures - proof.

trapezoid growth pattern

Creating an Algebra Book using our Topic Index

In 2012 the Discovering the Art of Mathematics team started reaching out to the two-year colleges. At the NEMATYC conference in 2013 we learned that many faculty are interested in support around algebra related courses.

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