“Too often, textbooks are judged on how well they cover the material rather than how well they convey understanding of ideas for the students who work with them. The Sowder/Sowder/Nickerson book is one of very few, and definitely the best of those I am familiar with, which excels in helping students attain a deep understanding. The book, through a well thought-out combination of guided activities, exercises and explanations, gives the students an opportunity to learn, master and reflect on mathematical concepts related to teaching mathematics in elementary and middle school. It does a particularly good job with topics traditionally thought of as difficult: understanding the meaning of numbers and operations, fractions, ratios and percent, and 3D geometry.”
--Malgorzata Dubiel, Simon Fraser University
“Having accepted the challenge of redesigning our distance learning Mathematics content course for prospective elementary school teachers, I was delighted to discover the Preliminary Edition of Reconceptualizing Mathematics, by Sowder et al. At last, a book that addresses the underlying concepts, and helps teachers see multiple interpretations for the operations of arithmetic, and for fractions (in some contexts, a number, in others a ratio). One of my students in this first offering of the course is currently teaching. Here is an excerpt from a message she sent in the fifth week of the course: “Quantity and value have helped immensely in approaching word problems. I am slowly starting to really enjoy Math, and it's become less scary. I used to dread questions from the kids that I didn't know the answers to, but now we work through it together and because I am showing them my thinking process, they are grasping it alongside of me. Really amazing, and it's just the beginning!””
--Bernice Kastner, Simon Fraser University
“We have been extremely impressed with this text. The authors have struck a delightful balance of mathematics tasks and activities that are accessible to future elementary teachers, but provide an opening for conversation and learning of deep mathematical ideas like equivalence relations, algebraic structures, rate of change, and connections between among algebra, analysis, and geometry. The activities and discussions embedded within the text are focused primarily on mathematics content, but also provide opportunities for students to consider the pedagogical implications of their own mathematical understandings. We have used all four parts of the text in our face-to-face and online courses and students continually echo the sentiment “I wish I learned math like this when I was in school” and “It all makes so much more sense now.””
--Jason Silverman and Ellen Clay, Drexel University
“The book used a very different approach to teaching algebra, patterns, and functions. The idea of putting stories to graphs and vice versa brought the concepts to life for the students….The [Think About and Takeaway Message features] are great for future teachers, because they put the application into real-life situations. The teachers are given examples that they might see or use with future students.”
--Kristina Anthony, Virginia Commonwealth University
“These chapters have worked extremely well. The students were able to learn more about the mathematics of elementary school in a way that they would be able to directly apply when they begin teaching….These chapters are better than the majority of textbooks currently available for these types of courses.”
--Jim Gleason, The University of Alabama
“I appreciated the text’s attention to mathematical detail while, at the same time, it attends to children’s mathematical thinking. This latter focus seemed the most motivating to the prospective elementary teachers in my class.”
--Neil Portnoy, University of New Hampshire
“Overall, we felt that the chapters were very high in quality. One of the strengths of the modules was the organization around big ideas. The chapters worked well in class. We chose to complete all the discussion, activity, and reflection portions with our classes, and we felt these were effective in helping students understand the content. The enlarged right margin was very helpful to students. They were able to record most of their notes directly in the text….We think Reconceptualizing Mathematics is far superior to the previous materials used in this course.”
--Mary Shafer, Northern Illinois University