Teaching OER Mathematics
Elementary and Secondary School Mathematics

Teachingoermath.info is a unit that explores the current Open Educational Resource (OER) environment, and the materials being developed, with emphasize on elementary and secondary school mathematics textbooks and supplemental math materials.

TeachingOERmath.info believes like learning a language that the learner succeeds only when they are immersed in the subject, which is why this site relies on links to many of the innovators and their creations directly. You are encouraged to explore links within a linked site to understand how the innovator of the site developed their creation.

Please respect the "TERMS OF USE" statement that appears at the bottom of the sites this website links to. Thank you.
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  1. Why and What are OER materials?

    1. John Page’s Ten Fundamental Reasons for Technology in Education .
    2. The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia in New Delhi recently (2013) released Quality Assurance Guidelines for Open Educational Resources: TIPS Framework Version 1.0 which provides a great deal of information on OER.
    3. Creative Commons.
    4. The Peer to Peer University ( P2Pu ) provided a link to an interesting list of definitions for terms used in educational technology.
    5. CK-12's report on how a Minnesota school district saved money on their math textbook budget.
    6. Wikibooks' Integrating Technology in the Classroom.
    7. Wikipedia's look at Open Textbooks.

      Topic Questions:
    1. Which of the above topics could be applied to a "paper only world"?
    2. We have a number of ways to receive this page, name at least 2 ?
    3. What is an "Open Educational Resource"(OER)?

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. How are textbook materials selected for a school?
    2. Who is involved in the selection process?
    3. Are the textbooks bought or leased?
    4. What support comes with them?
    5. What is the process of changing textbooks?
    6. School policy on the use of textbooks?
    7. How are other teaching materials selected for the classroom?

  2. The learner's environment - a world in change.

    1. Learners age 5 to 11 Grades K through 6 (from Wikieducator's "Come fly with me..." pages)
    2. Learners age 12 to 15 Grades 7 through 9.(from Wikieducator's "Come fly with me..." pages)
    3. The Wikibook by Dr. N.Scagnoli and his students Blended Learning in K-12
    4. Sources of mathematical problems for an 11 year old ( 6th grade).
    5. Language development.
    6. Stages in adult learning

      Topic Questions:
    1. In a hundred words or less how is technology impacting the learner?
    2. In a hundred words or less How do you think future technology will impact the learner?

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. How does a word like "WHOLE" used outside the classroom impact what happens inside the classroom? Similarily "SOLID" "HALF DOLLAR" "QUARTER"?
    2. What role does language spoken before the age of 5 play in the learning of mathematics?
    3. In different learning communities how does the language used before formal learning impact that learning?

  3. The educator's environment - a world in change.

    1. The University of Waikato houses an interesting collection The New Zealand Digit Library which in its Crystal collection lists the different roles that are expected of a teacher . While it focuses on University Lecturers, it is not without its relevancy to other grade levels.
    2. In response to a learner's favorite question:"Why do I need math?". What are the educational requirements needed for different professions .

      Topic Questions:
    1. In a hundred words or less how is technology impacting the educator?
    2. In a hundred words or less How do you think future technology will impact the educator?

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. How does the educator build a positive attitude toward the subject matter?
    2. How does the educator select the materials to be used in the learning environment?
    3. In a world where access to information is no longer the exclusive domain of the university or research institution, how does one teach the learner to ask the right question?
    4. How does the educator learn to ask the right question?

  4. Mathematics past and present.
    1. A history of mathematics education
    2. David Klein's A Brief History of American K-12 Mathematics Education in the 20th Century
    3. Reading and Writing in the Mathematics Classroom by Mark Freitag appearing in the The Mathematics Educator (Volume 8 Number 1 )

    4. Mathematics textbook series content and trends:
      1. The most frequent terms out of a list of 1000 used to study textbooks in:
        Kindergarten (average age is 5) - 1st (6) - 2nd - 3rd - 4th - 5th - 6th - 7th - 8th - 9th - 10th - 11th - grade

    5. Standards:
      1. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics
      2. American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Nature of Mathematics option
      3. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum Focal Points
      4. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation math projects

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. What is being measured in local, state and national exams?
    2. Is there a problem in the understanding of standards?

  5. Exploring OER materials.
    1. Dictionaries/Glossaries:
      1. John Pages's Math Open Reference (Geometry reference)
      2. Jenny Eather's A Maths Dictionary for Kids
      3. Wikieducator's Math Glossary

    2. Classroom materials:
      1. Before examining these materials select a grade level to explore:
      2. What math terms would you expect to be known?
      3. What math terms do you expect them to learn?
      4. Which is the most effective way to get the terms across?

      Grade: _K___ _1___ _2___ _3___ _4___ _5___ _6___ _7___ _8___ _9___ _10__ _11__
      Average Age: 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
        AAAKnow (AAAMath)
      (Standard Copyright)
      A A A A A A A A A - - -
        Houghton Mifflin
      (Standard Copyright)
      A A A A A A A - - - - -
        CK-12.org Algebra
      ( OER series )
      A A A A A A A A - - - -
        South Africa's Siyavula CNX/OpenStax
      ( OER series )
      - A A A A A A A A A A A
       CK-12 1-5th grade 2015
       6-11th grade 2012(OER)
      - A A A A A A A A A A T P A
        Saylor Foundation
      ( OER series )
      - - - - - - A A A A A A
        Khan Academy
      ( OER series )
      A A A A A A A A A A A A
        A+ Click
        Problem sets
      ( OER series )
      - A A A A A A A A A A A
         Ukuqonda Institute Mathematic (South Africa)
      (Standard Copyright with OER use limitations.)
      - - - - A A A A A A A -
        NCERT (India)
      (Standard Copyright with OER use limitations.)
      - A A A A A A A A A A A
      Please check terms of use.
      ** Select by clicking on the "A" under the appropriate grade level and resource. Dash "-" means resource not available. **
      ** "T P A" is Trigonometry, Probability and Analysis **

        After examining the materials:
      1. What math terms were common in those materials?
      2. What math terms did you find these materials assuming the learner knew?
      3. Is there an effective way to get the terms across?

    3. Problem solving :
      1. A summary of George Pólya's How to Solve It
      2. Wikipedia's problem solving techniques.
      3. 7,000+ math problems created for A+ Click

    4. Supplementary materials:
      1. Khan’s Academy.
      2. Arithmetic / Prealgebra Links by James Sousa
      3. Tips on writing a textbook.
      4. An elementary and secondary school math content resource by Jim Kelly

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. How do books update their content?
    2. How do OER materials update their content?
    3. How are change control processes different?
    4. Should raw data be handled the same way as interpretations of that data?

  6. Creating materials
    1. Dan Meyer’s A Framework For Using Digital Media In Math Instruction.
    2. Creating a K-5th grade OER series to complete the 6th to 12th grade CK-12 math textbook series.
    3. One way to create mathematics notation .

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. How can local language(s) impact the content used in developing math programs?
    2. How can the local economics impact the content used in developing math programs?
    3. How can local customs impact the content used in developing math programs?


  7. International Math education developments.
    1. TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study)
    2. African Teacher Education OER Network by South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE)
    3. Gladys Gahona Spanish language edition of Wikieducator
    4. How language shapes the way we think. Lera Boroditsky
    5. Dr Seema Agnihotri's comments on Sensitivity to Local Context

      Expanding our understanding:
    1. How can local language(s) impact the content used in developing math programs?
    2. How can the local economics impact the content used in developing math programs?
    3. How can local customs impact the content used in developing math programs?

    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
    Author: Jim Kelly contact: K-12math(at)sbcglobal(dot)net Developed: 2011, 2020