Exploratory Activities

These are introductory "hands-on" activities to introduce students to a concept, e.g., a two-team mathematical Tic-Tac-Toe game that leads students to graph ordered pairs. These activities need to foster thinking and are not worksheet exercises.

Concept

A concept is an idea important in the main body of mathematics, e.g., multiplication, linear equations, area, slope. Concepts are used to organize instructional units. Concept-based organization encourages broad, rich units with connections among concepts within and across the mathematics curriculum.

Concept Development Activities

These are student-centered activities/problems aimed at providing students with exploration experiences to develop the concept in many situations so that formal learning and deep understanding can take place.

Materials and Resources

Examples: Algebra tiles, geoboards, Cuisenaire rods, etc., as well as, any necessary printed materials needed for the entire unit. Print materials should be referenced completely.

Procedural Knowledge and Basic Facts

Basic facts and algorithms form the computational component of the Learning Plan. They are integrated with conceptual development activities so that students develop fluency with valid and standard algorithms and basic facts. Textbook exercises and sets of procedure-based problems may be included here.

Originality and Creativity

Student Products

Written

Verbal

Kinesthetic

Visual

Student products provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of a concept in their own way. Students should select only one of these.

Assessment

These include formative and summative assessments. Teacher-made tests and alternative assessments (i.e., observations, student writing, portfolios, student self-evaluations, interviews, demonstration tasks) provide information about student learning and thinking, as well as, information upon which to base instructional decisions.

Related TEKS

These are the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills throughout this concept.