by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Apr 22, 2019 |
Six of our staff traveled to San Diego to attend the NCSM and NCTM conferences at the beginning of April. Below are three staff members’ reflections on a session that stood out to them. Four more to follow next time. Keith: “From Oakland to Wakanda: Transforming...
by Arusha Hollister | Feb 4, 2019 |
In my years of leading in-person and online professional development, the idea of teaching students that certain “key words” signify a particular operation (e.g. “altogether means add”) often comes up when discussing story problems. People also generally see the power...
by Keith Cochran | Jan 22, 2019 |
Question: Why was the work with percents taken out of the 5th grade curriculum in the 3rd edition? Answer: In the 1st and 2nd editions of Investigations, there was a unit (Name that Portion and What’s That Portion?) that included lessons that connected what 5th...
by Arusha Hollister | Jan 7, 2019 |
In schools that use Investigations, families often feel unsure of how to help their children with math homework. Many parents/caregivers have told me that they don’t understand the strategies their children are using and don’t know what to do if their child is...
by Arusha Hollister | Dec 10, 2018 |
Last year, my colleague Keith and I worked a few times with a group of 5th grade teachers. One of the questions they asked us to help them think about related to this 5th grade benchmark: “Fluently solve multidigit multiplication problems using a variety of strategies...
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Nov 28, 2018 |
Question: If the CCSS indicates that Grade 2 students are supposed to be working with numbers to 1,000, why doesn’t this work begin sooner? Why are students still working with numbers under 20 and numbers under 100 for so much of the year? Answer: The Common...
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Nov 2, 2018 |
Question: Can the Investigations units be taught in a different order than suggested?Answer: The first edition of Investigations was written as a “replacement unit” model where individual units within a grade were somewhat less dependent on previous units, and schools...
by Susan Jo Russell | Oct 22, 2018 |
When people want to make a joke about how difficult, convoluted, or inaccessible word problems are, they often cite some version of the “two trains” problem. You can see an example of this problem here: Maybe you want to try solving this problem yourself before...
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Oct 9, 2018 |
Question: How does Investigations approach the teaching and learning of mathematical vocabulary?Answer: In Investigations 3, mathematical vocabulary is introduced as a natural part of the conversation during activities and discussions, along-side students’ own words....
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Sep 24, 2018 |
We often talk to and hear from teachers, coaches, and administrators who are just beginning their work with the Investigations curriculum. Taking on a new curriculum is challenging work even if you have taught a previous edition; while the content may be familiar,...
