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Q
uantitative
R
easoning &
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roblem
S
olving
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© 2014 Pacific Crest
Traditional Classroom
Practice
Best Practices for Learning
In a typical college math classroom
In a classroom using best practices
Instructors assign numerous problems
from the textbook or homework
software
Homework
Students work, at most, four problems of
any type so they can learn to generalize
their knowledge to solve the hardest
problem of that type
Instructors review homework by
working the harder problems from the
homework in front of the whole class
Harder Problems
(Cognitive
Complexity)
Students raise the level of their learning
by validating their solutions and creating
the hardest problem of any type
Instructors work problems pointing out
contexts that present or demonstrate
important issues
Clarifying
Understanding
Students work in teams to resolve
problems that present important issues
and then present their work to the whole
class
Students are often given partial credit
for incomplete solutions
Grading
Students must validate their own
answers to earn any credit for a given
solution
Students experience little sense of
community learning with extensive
individual work
Social
Orientation
Students collaborate in a learning
community and learning teams with
mutual support
The culture is highly evaluative with
students often left on their own trying
to figure out how to do better
Assessment/
Evaluation
The culture is assessment-based
and students are given the tools they
need to gauge and raise their level of
performance
C
ritical Thinking Questions
Developing your understanding
1. What are current practices that you use that are shown to be
ineffective
for learning mathematics?
2. What are current practices that you use that are shown to be
effective
for learning mathematics?