Lesson Imaging in Math and Science: Anticipating Student Ideas and Questions for Deeper STEM Learning

From respected voices in STEM education comes an innovative lesson planning approach to help turn students into problem solvers: lesson imaging. In this approach, teachers anticipate how chosen activities will unfold in real time—what solutions, questions, and misconceptions students might have and how teachers can promote deeper reasoning. When lesson imaging occurs before instruction, students achieve lesson objectives more naturally and powerfully.

A successful STEM unit attends to activities, questions, technology, and passions. It also entails a careful detailed image of how each activity will play out in the classroom. Lesson Imaging in Math and Science presents teachers with

• A process of thinking through the structure and implementation of a lesson
• A pathway to discovering ways to elicit student thinking and foster collaboration
• An opportunity to become adept at techniques to avoid shutting down the discussion—either by prematurely giving or acknowledging the “right” answer or by casting aside a “wrong” answer

Packed with classroom examples, lesson imaging templates, and tips on how to start the process, this book is sure to help teachers anticipate students’ ideas and questions and stimulate deeper learning in science, math, engineering, and technology.

Michelle Stephan, EdD, is an associate professor of mathematics education with a joint appointment in the College of Education and Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

David Pugalee, PhD, is a professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he serves as director of the Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education.

Julie Cline has taught middle school mathematics for 22 years and recently earned National Board Certification in Mathematics/Early Adolescence.

Chris Cline has taught 7th and 8th grade mathematics for 21 years and is a National Board Certified Teacher in Mathematics/Early Adolescence.