Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Algebra

The first three volumes of this popular series help teachers support children’s development in number sense and operation, from addition and subtraction through fractions, decimals, and percents. Catherine Twomey Fosnot and Maarten Dolk’s signature approach uses classroom vignettes to illustrate the investigations and minilessons students engage in as they build their mathematical knowledge.

The hallmarks of their approach include:

• Supporting children as they construct mathematical strategies and big ideas
• Creating realistic contexts and representational models that develop children’s capacity to mathematize their world
• Building a collaborative community of mathematical thinkers engaged in inquiry

For the fourth volume Catherine teams up with Bill Jacob to offer a comfortably familiar and characteristically rich extension to the earlier work. In Constructing Algebra Catherine and Bill provide a landscape of learning that helps teachers recognize, support, and celebrate their students’ capacity to structure their worlds algebraically.  They identify for teachers the models, contexts, and landmarks that facilitate algebraic thinking in young students.

This volume will be a welcome resource for classroom teachers, math supervisors, and curriculum coordinators alike. Preparing young children for success in algebra is a crucial topic. Constructing Algebra provides the insightful and practical methods from the most trusted source for teaching mathematics to young students from Kindergarten through grade 8.

“When children are given the chance to structure number and operation in their own way, they can make sense of algebra not as a funny set of rules that mixes up letters and numbers but as a language for describing the structure and relationships they uncover.” ―Catherine Twomey Fosnot and Bill Jacob

Cathy Fosnot is a leading voice in mathematics education. She is Professor Emerita of Education at the City College of New York and the founder of Mathematics in the City, a national center for professional development located at the college. In 2007 she established New Perspectives on Learning to devote her time to speaking around the world, fostering school change through professional learning and support, and producing new resources and materials.

Watch Cathy talk about the importance of context in math.

Follow Cathy on Twitter @ctfosnot