Video Publications
The CMSER has published numerous videotapes designed to enhance teachers' understanding of different strategies for understanding Mathematics.
These videos are available to purchase through the CMSER. Please send check for the cost of video, plus $5.00 for shipping and handling, with your order. Make the check payable to the Center for Mathematics and Science Education Research. Businesses and institutions with purchase orders may choose to be billed. Allow three to four weeks for delivery.
Send orders to: Center for Mathematics and Science Education Research
Enderis Hall, Room 265
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
PO Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
For more information, call 414-229-6646 or email CMSER@uwm.edu.
Kids Handle the Numbers: Computational Fluency for Addition and Subtraction
Produced in 2001; 18 minutes; $10.00Kids Handle the Numbers is a video about computational fluency, which means that through problem solving kids learn understanding of numbers. Computational fluency is achieved when students can flexibly use a number of strategies to correctly solve a problem. The video shows clips of students in actual classrooms demonstrationg efficient computational fluency with several different methods to produce accurate answers to addition and subtraction problems.
Many students learn to consolidate and chose simpler numbers to work with or "friendly numbers". The students also learn by examining and comparing each others numbers. The idea behind computational fluency is that the ideas for math are connected together, so students may solve problems a number of ways and come up with the correct answer.
Telling the Data Story: Teaching Data Analysis in the Elementary School
Produced in 2001; 17 minutes; $10.00This video highlights students showing proficiency in working with data in a variety of ways, such as formulating questions, collecting data, and organizing and representing. The footage is from actual classrooms in action, with children understanding data by asking questions that can be answered with data.
The video shows examples of why it is important for children to be a part of the entire process of understanding data, and demonstrates students planning how to organize data after collecting. It also offers real examples of students describing the data that they have categorized to show an understanding of what the data means, and finding a link to the real world.
Students are able to tell about where they see data gaps and data groups, or distribution of values. Through this they are able to compare findings. This video gives helpful strategies to guide students to be able to understand data when they can describe the data and summarize their findings. The video is another production from the CMSER featuring urban classrooms, diverse teachers and students, and students learning mathematics in alignment with national mathematics reform efforts.
Altering the Equation: A Video Documentary on the Milwaukee Public Schools Mathematics Proficiency Exam
30 minutes; $10.00Many school districts are debating how best to measure how well they are educating students; they may soon be turning to Milwaukee for answers. As part of a wide-ranging reform effort, Milwaukee Public Schools now administers a mathematics proficiency examination to all students as a prerequisite to high school graduation. The test assesses how ready students are to apply mathematics and critical thinking skills to "real-world" problems.
The mathematics proficiency exam was given, for the first time, to juniors at the end of the 1994-95 school year. In early summer the district announced 21 percent of students taking the test passed. That means nearly four out of five students failed the exam; and that became the focal point of national discussion and debate. While some praised the district's effort at relevant assessment, critics say the results are proof that the school system is failing. In a sense, the district was damned by some because of its steps toward a praiseworthy goal.
The Center for Mathematics and Science Education Research at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee has developed a fresh look at the Milwaukee Public Schools math test. The half-hour video documentary entitled Altering the Equation is the result of this effort. This program explores the nature of the exam, the goals of the school district, and how the district's efforts - particularly with this test - fit the broader education community's attempts at reform and revitalization.
Altering the Equation was produced by Jerry Grayson in association with Wisconsin Public Television and the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Center for Mathematics and Science Education Research and the School of Education. The development of the video documentary was sponsored by the Helen Bader Foundation, Incorporated.
Just Talk About It, Write About It, and Count On It: A Video Documentary on the NCTM Communications Standards: Grades 5-12
30 minutes; $10.00Standards are designed so that the role of students in the learning process shifts to prepare them for their entrance into the workforce. This goal makes it essential to create classrooms where students can become active in creating, constructing and communicating their mathematics understanding. Our job as educators, therefore, is to foster an atmosphere which allows students to feel free to make mistakes and take intellectual risks while exploring interesting problems and using important mathematical ideas and concepts. Such a climate improves confidence while building understanding, and empowering students.
Just Talk About It, Write About It, and Count on It discusses the NCTM Mathematics Standard of Communication. It includes detailed explanations of the various aspects of the communication standard along with teacher and student examples of that standard in classrooms. This video is a useful tool in facilitating a better implementation of this standard for both the educator and the student.
Just Talk About It, Write About It, and Count on It is the result of a partnership among Milwaukee Public Schools, Nicolet High School, and the Center for Mathematics and Science Education Research at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. The focus of the tape is one of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum and Evaluation Standards: the Communications Standard for grades 5-8 and 9-12. This tape was made possible by a grant from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Education Act.
Mathematics in Milwaukee: Parents as Partners in Children's Learning
Produced in 2000; 10 minutes; $10.00Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) adopted a new mathematics curriculum entitled Investigations in Number, Data, and Space. This video gives an overview of the curriculum and the approach it takes towards teaching and learning mathematics. Using examples of MPS students and teachers in the classroom, the video discusses how Investigations promotes reasoning, collaboration, several forms of communication and various ways of working with numbers to teach and learn mathematics.
The video provides testimonials of parents who have worked successfully with their children and the Investigations curriculum. Speaking about the benefits of interacting with their children in a mathematical context, parents give examples of how they have supported and reinforced their children as they find and apply knowledge in mathematics. Also included in the video are clips of parents and their children working together on math homework and games.
Milwaukee's Mathematics for the New Millennium: Milwaukee Public Schools Elementary Mathematics Curriculum
10 minutes; $10.00Investigations in Number, Data and Space is the mathematics curriculum used in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). This video explains the curriculum and the approach it takes towards teaching and learning mathematics. Using examples of MPS students and teachers in the classroom, the video demonstrates how Investigations uses more than one way to solve problems, independent work and cooperative groups to develop flexibility, confidence, fluency, and communication skills in mathematics.
The instructional component of Investigations is complemented by the assessment portion of the curriculum. This video addresses various manners in which teachers can assess student achievement and adjust instruction. The video also explains the homework component which includes practice, preparation and family involvement.
