Mathematics
and Computer Science Speaker Series
California State University, Stanislaus
Date: Friday, May 6, 2011
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m
Room: P-164
Speaker: Rebecca
Ambrose
Title: It’s more than Proof: Geometry Learning through
Building, Talking and Drawing
Abstract: Students in the United States perform poorly on
international comparisons in mathematics, especially in geometry.
Impoverished curriculum and limited teaching at the elementary school
level contribute to this poor performance. I have been involved in
teaching experiments with K-6th grade students for the past 15 years to
learn more about children’s geometric thinking and to develop better
approaches to geometry instruction. In this presentation I will be
sharing some of the insights I have gained over the years and will be
sharing data from some of my most recent experiments. Data include
video of children discussing polyhedra, video of classroom discussions,
photographs of children’s geometric constructions and examples of
children’s written work. My analysis indicates that building polyhedra
serves as a powerful entry point for students’ geometry development and
that “spatial structuring” is an important precursor to geometric proof.