Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally, Texas Edition

by John A. Van de Walle, Karen S. Karp, Jennifer M. Bay Williams

“It is fun to figure out the puzzle of how children go about making sense of mathematics and then how to help teachers help kids.” John A. Van de Walle, Late of Virginia Commonwealth University This is the philosophy behind Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. John A. Van de Walle wrote this book to help students understand mathematics and become confident in their ability to teach the subject to children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Although he could not have foreseen the changes in mathematics teaching over the last three decades, he was at the forefront of the movement towards a constructivist view of teaching, or teaching developmentally. Constructivism says that children construct their own knowledge. They are not blank slates waiting to absorb whatever the teacher tells them. Teachers must understand both mathematics itself and how students learn mathematics in order to teach it effectively. Learning through problem solving is another major theme of this book. Students solve problems not just to apply mathematics, but also to learn new mathematics. Effective problems will take into account where students are, the problematic or engaging aspect of the problem must be due to the mathematics that the students are to learn and not be diluted by non-mathematical activities such as cutting or pasting, and the problem must require justifications and explanations for answers and methods. Learning then becomes an outcome of the problem solving process. The book also addresses in more detail than any other book on the market the effect that the trends of standards-based education, increased pressure to test, and increased teacher accountability have had on teaching mathematics. He addresses the 2000 NCTM Standards in depth, in Chapter 1 on Teaching Mathematics in the Era of the NCTM Standards, through the NCTM icon that appears in the margins throughout the text, and in two appendices in the back of the book. Chapter 5 on Building Assessment into Instruction has also been heavily revised to focus on increased testing pressure, creating more explicit links between objectives and assessment, and including assessments for students with special needs. Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally is a book for doing math today—for both students who want to become teachers, and the students they will eventually teach. New To This Edition: NEW! Revises Chapter 5 on assessment-- Discusses increased testing pressure and accountability, adds more information on equitable assessments, creates more explicit links between objectives and assessment, and includes assessments for students with special needs. NEW! Updates the Literature Connections feature to remove all out of print children’s literature and include more non-fiction, poetry, and other types of readings. NEW! Weaves the Focal Points throughout the chapters as well as links them with the Big Ideas feature — Focal Points have also been added to the Appendix. NEW! Includes expanded coverage of working with diverse learners. NEW! Gives greater emphasis on dealing with math anxiety.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Mathematics, School, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Stem

533 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Bridgette Pascoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally claiming this book as a read of 2018! Don’t judge!

[Jonathan Peto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, excellent book. I keep it on hand and refer to it all the time. I highly recommend it. Parents who are interested in helping their children understand math could read the initial chapters about the foundations of teaching math and then refer to section 2 when teaching specific concepts. If you home school and do not use this book you should probably be incarcerated, especially if you are not confident of your own math abilities. Parents who understand math could benefit from this book too, especially if you are frustrated that you are not transferring your knowledge successfully. I love this book so much I am probably going to buy the new edition and read it for a third or fourth time.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually used the 7th edition with my students this past semester but either way, this is a terrific book for pre-service teachers! The author(s) introduce pre-service teachers to think about steering away from teacher-led instruction and toward having a math class based on student thinking and building classroom norms centered on communication. I highly recommend using the my education lab on the computer with your students. The site compliments the book beautifully (once you get past a few bugs with the program - logging on can be difficult the first time). Also, the activities in the book and on-line are very thoughtful and easy to follow.

[Sima · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful resource about how to teach math, with a great developmental approach that meshes well with Montessori values. The book comprehensively explains the NCTM standards, and goes into depth on lots of different subjects from kindergarten through 8th grade. Lots of links to other resources as well, with annotated bibliographies including web sites.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a developmental or foundational resource which I have used many times to try to identify and beef up gaps in a student's math foundations. Chocked full of strategies for teaching concepts and procedures, games, prompts for writing reflections and long list of references and on-line resources.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many great ideas and activities. The book is definitely all about the problem-solving approach and emphasizes cooperative learning.

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The absolute best resource for "best practices" and content in mathematics. My dream would be that all math educators embraced and delivered instruction according to J Van de Walle.

[Random Scholar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lot of ideas for activities we can do to teach different math concepts like fractions, decimals, and multiplication. This book also has a lot of interesting ideas about how to introduce math concepts through activities that promote exploration and hands on learning. What I liked best about this book is that it had a lot of ideas about how to make math meaningful for students. I wish I had learned math the way this book illustrated it because many formulas and operations would have been more memorable and useful for me when I was growing up. Yet thankfully, I can teach this to my students so they can have a better experience!

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely loved this book! read the eleventh edition this semester and it is full of resources that I am definitely taking with me once i’m in my own classroom. full of great lessons, activities, pedagogy; explores phenomena based teaching and inquiry based teaching in depth and in a way that is easy to follow along. learned a lot from this one! I definitely recommend for any future educators or teachers out there that are looking to incorporate more STEAM into their lesson plans.

[E.A.G. E.A.G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good content in general with some good methods and a good basis for understanding standards

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good strategies, but very segmented.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book during my Developing Mathematics Curriculum course. It was fun learning different strategies for teaching math.

[Stephanie Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this textbook while working on my masters in math, and it’s a great resource.

[Katelyn Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the tenth edition for an education class. I’ll be keeping this book in my future classroom for sure!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent narrative throughout, but it's hard to stay interested when I don't care about teaching math on any level.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a stupendous textbook and reference material. It is not only provides fundamental pedagogy on how math is taught and learned, but it also has chapters how to best approach specific subjects within math. The book discusses best practices and provides example math problems. Features at the end of each chapter include online resources, reflection questions, and questions for discussion and exploration. I especially loved the frequently asked questions provided in some of the chapters because they asked the real (and sometimes tough) questions I want answers to. This book strongly advocates project-based learning and addresses questions such as: What if a lesson totally bombs? Will I have time to teach everything? Should I use drill and skill? and more.

The book is separated into two sections. Section one is Teaching Mathematics: Foundations and Perspectives and chapters include: teaching mathematics in the 21st century, exploring what it means to know and do mathematics, teaching through problem solving, planning the problem-based classroom, building assessment into instruction, teaching mathematics equitably to all children, and using technological tools to teach mathematics.

Section two is Development of Mathematical Concepts and Procedures and chapters include: developing early number concepts and number sense; developing meanings for the operations; helping students master the basic facts; developing whole-number place-value concepts; developing strategies for addition and subtraction computation; developing strategies for multiplication and division computation; algebraic thinking: generalizations, patterns, and functions; developing fraction concepts; developing strategies for fractional computation; developing concepts of decimals and percents; proportional reasoning; developing measurement concepts; geometric thinking and geometric concepts; developing concepts of data analysis; exploring concepts of probability; and developing concepts of exponents, integers, and real numbers.

[Shinemoos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally think highly of big textbooks but this one surprised me! This Canadian edition is very relevant and up-to-date, and most importantly, it’s fun to walk through the problems together. There’s no boring piling up of theories, rather, the writers are demonstrating to us that doing math right is showing a good attitude: “willing to work through uncertainties, reflect back on both correct and incorrect approaches to a task, and take risks” (4). It’s only 454 pages for 23 chapters, lots of hands on, problem solving, and reflection. It helps me to think out of the box. Teaching math right will be more challenging than I thought, but as teachers, we will grow and enjoy the process too.

I think this is the best edition! The newest edition is just too much, adding way more information than needed, making it a more micromanaging game than teaching big ideas!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jon understands math well and presents some strong samples to support his network of ideas of proper math instruction.

[Nickoleta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm learning that I am a much bigger math geek than I imagined possible.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winter 2009

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am reading the sixth edition of this book.

[Mary Christensen-cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got to see Van de Walle speak at the Colorado Council for Teachers of Math conference, and he was amazing. Such a great leader in reform math education.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for all elementary and middle grade teachers!

[Amber]

1 copy available

[Yarrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry read, but a great reference for teaching math!

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

has some good ideas, but is not always clear with material outside of the activities.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually reading the 7th edition but definitely some interesting things about how we teach math.

[Rebeka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Είναι ένα εξαιρετικό βιβλίο και το συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα. Κάθε δάσκαλος ή καθηγητής Μαθηματικών πρέπει να το διαβάσει, έχει μεγάλη ποικιλία βοηθητικού υλικού και πολλές ιδέες για κάθε ενότητα.

[Hema]

Some html is ok

[Alaa Alatawi]

I need too read this book.