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Middle School Goals

The primary objectives of the Middle School (5-8) Teacher Certification Program in Mathematics are to produce professionals in mathematics education with:

1. A strong background in mathematics;

2. A strong pedagogical background in mathematics education at the middle school level;

3. An awareness of the need for continual professional development throughout their careers;

4. A knowledge of the psychological theories for teaching in general, and mathematics in particular, and the corresponding methodologies for each;

5. An understanding of human development and in particular adolescent development;

6. An understanding of how and why to use manipulatives and technology to improve mathematics instruction;

7. An ability to communicate mathematical ideas with ease and clarity;

8. An appreciation of mathematics and its power and beauty;

9. An ability to connect mathematical ideas to other areas of mathematics and to other disciplines;

10. An ability to solve problems and construct logical arguments;

11. An ability to design an experiment, collect data from the experiment, organize and analyze the data, and use it to make predictions;

12. An understanding of the history of mathematics;

13. An understanding of how mathematics permeates our lives;

14. An ability to teach all children;

15. An ability to assess students in a variety of ways other than paper-and-pencil tests, such as coded or uncoded observations, written and oral presentations, when working win cooperative groups, etc.