Teaching Middle School Math

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Although middle school students may have learned to identify basic place value in earlier grades, most are developmentally ready to delve into the deeper concepts of counting in other bases and the exponential growth of groupings within each increasing place. Just as students can more clearly understand the English language by studying a foreign language, math students can better understand our number system by studying other number systems and/or by creating a new one. Students who construct depth of understanding of place value through exploration will be more fully equipped to expand their mathematical thinking into the realm of decimals and scientific notation. I have chosen to use the term "number system" for this WebQuest rather than "numeration system," because I think it will more successfully link new ideas to the prior knowledge of the middle school students.

Although middle school students may have learned to identify basic place value in earlier grades, most are developmentally ready to delve into the deeper concepts of counting in other bases and the exponential growth of groupings within each increasing place. Just as students can more clearly understand the English language by studying a foreign language, math students can better understand our number system by studying other number systems and/or by creating a new one. Students who construct depth of understanding of place value through exploration will be more fully equipped to expand their mathematical thinking into the realm of decimals and scientific notation. I have chosen to use the term "number system" for this WebQuest rather than "numeration system," because I think it will more successfully link new ideas to the prior knowledge of the middle school students.