What We Call Middle School Mathematics

What We Call Middle School Mathematics addresses the content of the middle school mathematics program across the grade levels involved. This book strives to have middle school mathematics teachers understand how the mathematics at their individual grade fits into the overall middle school mathematics curriculum.

While doing this, What We Call Middle School Mathematics assists teachers with ideas in teaching topics. In doing this, the text addresses topics through the physical modeling that is often given little focus in a traditionally based text. For teachers, this book not only shows the mathematical content of the middle school but also using models for its teaching. For students, the book has them portray the modeling activities that will assist them in understanding.

In some cases, especially with fractions, the book also addresses the basic content from prior grades through ‘Setting the Stage’ sections at the beginning of certain chapters. The goal here is to help teachers understand and deal with the weaknesses in mathematics that many students bring with them to the middle school. The focus on this background is not a review since students, nor anyone else, is able to review what they truly do not understand. While it addresses the mathematics from former grades it does so in a teaching format.

As the reader moves through the chapters on each topic, the overall content for that topic in the middle school can be seen. For 8th-grade students, the text would make an excellent compendium of what has been learned in middle school mathematics while setting the stage for topics for re-investigating prior ideas of the topic when necessary.

Dr. Francis Gardella is a life-long mathematics educator, whose career encompasses teaching at the junior high school level, supervising mathematics programs for school districts, K-12, and teaching mathematics education and mathematics courses at the college level.