ATPE Online Continuing Professional Education


Thinking with Numbers 

This CPE unit guides you through the Mathematics Learning Base area of the of the All Kinds of Minds® website LearningBase. All Kinds of Minds' mission is to help students who struggle with learning measurably improve their success in school and life (through delivery of its professional development program for K-12 educators, Schools Attuned®). Learn more at http://www.allkindsofminds.org/.

This CPE unit is worth 3 hours credit for certification renewal requirements of the Texas State Board for Educator Certification. As an educator taking this CPE unit, you are held to the honor system and will certify once the unit is completed that you have read the entire text contained in the links to the questionnaire. There are a total of 78 questions.

Click on the links for each section and read the entire text to locate the missing words in the statements.

  

Learning and Recalling Math Facts

  1. The mastery of math is an essential ingredient in a student’s math development.
      
  2. Math facts are those addition, subtraction, multiplication and division computations, e.g., 2+2=4, 5X5=25, that are the basis for math .
      
  3. Math facts must become increasingly effortless and so students can use them quickly and when working with math procedures, learning math concepts and performing math problem-solving.
      

Number Sense and Patterns/Impact of Higher Order Cognition

  1. A student’s number sense includes the ability to understand both number (as in the association of the digit 7 with seven items) and concepts (for example, that the symbol ‘+’ signifies ‘add’, which means ‘combine’).
      
  2. Understanding number sense is promoted by a student’s ability to relate a concrete symbol to a concept or .
      
  3. Assess and review students’ understanding of the property of addition and multiplication to build awareness of number patterns.
      
  4. The commutative property of multiplication tells us that regardless of the order in which the same numbers are multiplied, the remains the same (e.g. 7x3 = 3x7).
      
  5. The semi-abstract level of understanding involves the use of pictures or drawings to the numbers in the symbolic process.
      

Mastery of Math Facts/Impact of Attention and Memory

  1. A consistent mastery of math facts, such as multiplication tables, addition families, etc., is greatly influenced by the functions of and memory.
      
  2. Using the processing controls of attention to effectively think about the new mathematical information, a student can build a repertoire of facts.
      
  3. The production controls of attention help the student recall and use math facts efficiently; for example, they enable a student not only to remember math facts, but to for careless errors in the process.
      
  4. The ability to organize math facts as pairs and then recall these pairs with ease is aided by a student’s memory skills.
      
  5. Encourage students to use mid-task during math computation activities.