Algebraic Thinking: A Professional-Development Theme

Author(s): Faye Nisonoff Ruopp, Al Cuoco, Sue M. Rasala and M. Grace Kelemanik
Source: Teaching Children Mathematics , February 1997, Vol. 3, No. 6, FOCUS ISSUE:
Algebraic THINKING (February 1997), pp. 326-329
Published by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

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 distinct from the elementary curriculum. However,
as the program progressed, teachers' ideas about
children's understanding of algebraic thinking, and
their own ideas about algebraic thinking, began to
change.

The Four-Category
Strategy
Throughout the project, we discussed reasons for
doing mathematics together, so that teachers would
better understand the purposes of each mathemati-
cal task. We separated the purposes of doing math-

nigebrcik ematics in our seminars:

1. Activities that can be taken back immediately

Thinking: Й for students to do in the classroom
2. Uncovering some reasons for possible misun-
Profcssionol- derstandings that students may have
3. Learning mathematics that was new for partici-

Development pants, for example, investigations in algebraic

structures and number theory

Theme 4. Understanding how concepts play out across

the grades

a thirty-six month period beginningAllowing elementary, middle, and high school

September 1992, teams of two elementary,
teachers to explore algebraic themes together pre-
two middle, and two high school teachers
sented a unique opportunity to examine how alge-
from each of seven school districts attended a
braic thinking is developed through the K- 12 cur-
series of biweekly seminars at Education riculum. The selection of mathematical tasks, as a
Development Center (EDC). The seminars, called
result, became a carefully constructed process, so
Teachers, Time and Transformations (TTT), werethat teachers from all levels could find some mean-
held during the school day as part of a professional-ingful ways to participate.
development program for K-12 mathematics This article gives examples of the mathematics
teachers.
explored and some of the other characteristics that
This program enabled teachers to work on math-
made this project unique. We purposefully struc-
ematics together, engaging in problems thattured the seminars to highlight the important con-
focused on algebraic thinking across the grades. Atributions that elementary teachers brought to the
general perception exists that algebraic thinking isteams. Whenever we presented problems, we
asked teachers to work in grade-level groups ini-
tially and then to work together in cross-grade
Faye Ruopp, [email protected], is a project director at the Education Development Center (EDC) in
teams to share approaches and solutions.
Newton, MA 02160. As principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant working with
One middle school teacher commented on the
K-12 mathematics teachers in Walt ham, Massachusetts, and as a former mathematics teacher,
value of having elementary teachers as part of the
she has a special interest in exploring algebraic thinking across the grades. Al Cuoco,
[email protected], is senior scientist and director of the Mathematics Initiative at EDC. Before team:
com- "The elementary teachers helped me look at
ing to EDC, he taught high school mathematics for twenty-four years. Sue Rasala, [email protected],
math with a different viewpoint. I hope it will help
is a senior research associate at EDC. She is interested in early-childhood-mathematics education
me break things down and make them clearer for
and professional development in mathematics for early-childhood teachers. M. Grace Kelemanik,
my kids." A high school teacher continued, "We
[email protected], is a project director at EDC, where she designs professional-development pro-
grams. She is interested in providing supportive environments so that mathematics teachers think
can at the high school level that our explanations
reflect on their practice. are perfectly clear, but they're obviously not for
everyone. The elementary teachers helped us think
Edited by Dan Dolan,Project
i to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science, Wesleyan
about different ways to present things." From
University, Middletown, CT 06457, and Mari Muri, Connecticut Department of Education,
Hartford, CT 06145. Readers are encouraged to send manuscripts appropriate for this section
another high school teacher, "I always thought
to the
editors. everyone else thought or should think about math
exactly as I did. Watching how other teachers solve
the
This project was supported by grant no. ESI-9253322 from the National Science Foundation. Theproblem, I was amazed. Sometimes the sim-
opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and should not be interpreted as official positions
of the Foundation.
plest way of doing it is the most elegant and
sophisticated."

if»H&^i;;-> ■■":'■ ; T6RCHING CHILDR6N MflTH€Mffl!CS

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 This impression was confirmed by an elemen-
tary teacher who commented, "I found that as The work of some fourth-grade teachers
these problems were presented, many of the mid-

i
dle and high school teachers immediately took to
trying to write a formula and I reached for the
manipulates. And I usually found that I solved - A

_ = ti
the probem as fast as they did, and, in fact, that my
method told more the 'why' of how things worked.
Somewhere along the line I got the feeling that I I = A I V
|,o= /N I *
earned their respect."
During the seminars, teachers investigated both
classic mathematics problems in algebra and inno-
s - A I V
vative materials to clarify their understanding of
mathematical thinking and to gain a better under-
standing of how algebraic thinking is addressed
I s = - Al Ф
across the grade levels. As teachers began to
immerse themselves in the mathematics, they iden-
tified the important habits of mind that students
need to develop across the curriculum. At the end
of the project, elementary-grade teachers articulat-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
ed that they had a clearer vision of where the math-
ematics they taught was heading. As one stated, "I Time (in Hours)
think that a lot of the problem is that between the
elementary and high school there is such a large
gap that we are not able to see the big picture, to
see how what we teach plays out later on." The work of some sixth-grade
Problems that emphasize algebraic thinking are teachers
illustrated in the following. Elementary-grade
teachers in our project were familiar with finding, Time (Hours) Net Height
describing, and using patterns. Problems illustrat-
ing additive patterns abound in two elementary
textbooks, such as "How many eyes are there
on one person? Two people? Nineteen people? X 3 7
people?"
The following problem, also involving patterns,
is one that can be solved by applying algebraic
thinking at a variety of levels. 5

6
A frog climbs up the side of a well that is 1 1
7 11
meters deep. Every hour the frog climbs 5
meters and then rests for an hour. As it rests, the
frog slips back 3 meters before it climbs again.
9 13
How long will it take the frog to get out of the
well? Determine the answer for a well of any 10 10
depth.
11 15
With such problems as the "frog in the well,"
12 12
teachers developed several strategies and collected
numerical data. Some middle and high school 13
teachers immediately started writing algebraic
14 14
functions. As cross-grade teams solved problems
together, teachers drew on their combined efforts
by introducing physical models, charts, and other
visual methods. Specific examples were explained teachers were able to find a solution for an
in the context of a general function. Some repre- eleven-meter well (7 hours). As noted in figure 1,
sentations included pictures and tables, such as elementary teachers chose to describe the frog's
those shown in figure 1 and tables 1 and 2. height in relation to the time with a series of
Extending the data chart was easy, and all the arrows depicting climbs and slides. This visual pat-

F€6RUfìfìV 1997 ^^^^^^^^^^B

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 write a function that covered any resting tim
The work of some middle school
forward climb, any backward slip, and wells

I
teachers
depth. Teachers' questions and comments illu
ed connections made among specific examp
generalizations with one variable and with
Depth of Well 1 ^[»ffl» variables.
1 1 We also identified the themes that foster alge-
braic thinking across the grades, which included -
• finding, describing, and using patterns;
3 1
• describing and using functions;
4 1 • developing proportional reasoning;
• finding, describing, and using algebraic structure;
5 and
6 3 • constrt *ing appropriate pedagogy and class-
room cutowe.

Of the fivť4iemes in the project, the notion o

8 5
"algebra as stiWure" was perhaps the most subt
to develop for terahers at all levels. The disjunc
9
tion between algette^as a mathematical disciplin
10 7
and as a school subçtet has widened to the point
11 7 where university county in "abstract algebra" th
treat algebraic structurursseem to have little con
12 9
nection to algebra as a hirtl2 mathematics strand
13 9 Our approach was to looi rat the development o
modern algebra for ideasxrfound in elementary

M
14 11 mathematics that contributeatto the evaluation of
the abstract approach to alguforaic structures. We
searched for activities in whicalgnsights arose from
thinking about the form of a nhinerical calculation
tern described
rather than the
its outcome. a r frog's m
found that drawing imagina
The "frog in the well" gave achers a problem
points at the heads of the up
that they could take back toivéieir classes; for
arrows was particularly inte
some teachers, being able to tal tea problem from
the pattern.
a workshop and adapt it for tmssroom use is
Some sixth-grade teachers found it useful to
an important aspect of a good professional-

МШЁН
concentrate on the net height after each hour (table
development program. Teacher: gat every grade
1). They constructed a table and found two pat-
level believed that they learned hew mathematics
terns, 5, 7, 9, 11, . . . , resulting from odd inputs,
by working on the problem andednding out how
and 2, 4, 6, 8, . . . , resulting from even inputs.
the same ideas could play out across the grades.
Other middle-grades teachers took a different
Several other problems that we investigated
approach and plotted the escape time as a function follow.
of the depth of the well (table 2). However, they
found that it was not easy to write a simple func- • A gardener builds a flower garden made up of
tion to describe the table of values. individual square beds. She plans to put a tile
High school teachers were most interested in border around the garden. Each tile has the same
describing the data from their tables in formal dimensions as a single square bed. She makes
algebraic formulas in terms of any height, any several models to determine the number of tiles

climb, and any slide length. Generalizing a method she will need for gardens of various sizes. (See
for determining the time to climb out of a well of fig. 2.)
any height is challenging. Several functional rules Use tiles or draw models to represent gardens
describing table 1 were invented. For example, if that are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... beds long. For each case,
h(ri) is the height climbed after n hours, then determine the number of tiles needed to make

+ 4 if n is odd the border. Assume that the equal beds are in a

single row, placed end to end.
n if n is even.
• How many trains can you make with Cuisenaire
Teachers then explored new situationsrods for frogs
whose total length is 2? Or 3? Or 4? Or 10?
By a tried
that climb and slide at different rates. They train of
tolength 3, we mean a row of rods

^^^^^ШШЯШЯ T€flCHING CHIIDR6N MfìTH€MfflìCS

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 I
A garden with dimensions of The number of possible three-length trains
2X3 beds

I Length
of Train33 öö 12
5

12 лл ¿¿ 11 лл
2

1
whose length is 3, where order is important. For
example, the train could be made up of rods
1-1-1, 1-2,2-1, or 3.
12 3 4 5 6 7
Trains of any length can also be classified by
the number of "cars" (rods) they contain (e.g., Number of Cars
length = 3, 1 three-car train Mil. 2 two-car
trains I I 1 1 I 1 , 1 one-car train I I ).
How many trains of length 1 , 2, 3, . . . , n can be
made with 1 car? With 2 cars? With 3 cars? With
n cars? Make a chart as shown in figure 3 toStillwell, John. Elements of Algebra. New York: Springer-
organize your data. For each length of train, Verlag, 1994.
enter the number of trains for each number of United States Department of Education. The Algebra Initiative
Colloquium. Proceedings of a conference, Washington, D.C.,
cars. Data for a train of length 3 are given as anDecember 1993. ▲
example. Describe the pattern of numbers in the
chart.

Conclusion
In all the mathematics introduced, we acknowl-
edged both directly and indirectly the contribu-
tions that the elementary participants made to the
cross-grade groups. Elementary teachers became ► Read profiles of hundreds of n 1 1 л M i : f ^ н ^ : ; »ч ; j j a 1 771
aware of the complementary components of the projects and organizations
K-12 curriculum. They also raised their level of
confidence as algebraic thinkers, so that they, in
«S£!£SZ5XLm -em««-.™»«
turn, could teach algebraic thinking to their stu- ► Research funding sources ► Administrators and Researchers
dents. Elementary teachers agreed, "This has ► Spot professional ^ College Education Faculty
really made me think more about where we're
development trends ► Curriculum Coordinators
heading, what I have to get my students ready
for." ► Locate workshops and trainers ► Teachers and Trainers

Bibliography
NEW FOR 1997: The Guide Online
Burnett, Carne. Donna Goldenstein, and Babette Jackson. A fully searchable database on the WWW
Fractions, Decimals, Ratios, and Parents: Hard to Teach
and Hard to Learn? Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1994.
Direct links to leading projects and organizations
Cuter, Ada Beth. Teachers, Time and Transformations: First
Year Evaluation Report. Cambridge, Mass.: Education
Matters, 1993.

Duggan, Theresa. Teachers, Time and Transformations : Second

Year Evaluation Report. Cambridge, Mass.: Education
Matters, 1994. Also available on disk for Macintosh"" ^
Lovitt, Charles, and Doug Williams. The Mathematics and Windows ' for just $9.95. ^11
Curriculum and Teaching Program Mathematics Task Centre To Order Calli -800-965-7373 The Annenberg / СРВ Math and Science Collection
Project. Melbourne, Australia: Curriculum Corp., 1988.

F€BRUfìfìV 1997 329

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