Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Department of Teaching and Learning

MTHED-UE 1044/MTHED-GE 2034
Educational Technology in Secondary School Mathematics
(EdTechSSM)
Mondays and Wednesdays 3:00p-4:30p
Spring Semester, 2015
20150125
Instructor: Jasmine Y. Ma
j.ma@nyu.edu
404 East Building, 239 Greene St.
Office hours: Wednesdays 4:30-5:30, or by appointment
Course Description
This course provides an in-depth examination of the affordances and limitations of educational
technology in enhancing the teaching and learning of secondary school mathematics. It focuses
on the use of handheld and computer technology, and introduces web-based mathematical
software, dynamic software, graphical tools and other software that can be successfully
incorporated in the middle and high school mathematics classroom. The course offers
opportunities to engage in, design, and critique technology-enhanced mathematical activities that
aim at developing understanding of school mathematics.
Course Overview
This course is primarily about doing, learning, and teaching mathematics. Digital technologies
are simply resources for doing these things. They should not be thought of as tools for enhancing
the standard curriculum (providing challenges for quick students), or for tutoring struggling
students, or for replacing certain teaching functions. Digital technologies not only allow students
to do mathematics unavailable on paper and pencil, but they also allow students to experience
mathematics in new ways and ask questions that would not be salient otherwise. In this course
you will explore how digital technologies can support the mathematics learning of all students.
You will develop strategies for deciding when particular technologies will support learning, how
best to use them, and how to integrate them into your teaching.
Course Objectives
Understand different roles for digital (and analog) technologies in doing, learning, and
teaching math, including how they may increase access to learning for all students, how they
affect teaching responsibilities and practices, and ways they might support learning
Use technologies to solve mathematical problems and construct new mathematical ideas
Use technologies to organize pedagogical demonstrations and set up problem explorations
Evaluate a variety of digital technologies and software packages
Design and adapt lessons using digital technologies
Understand the complexities of using digital technologies in the classroom

Required Texts
Articles and book chapters will be made available through NYUClasses.
Class Requirements
Be prepared to actively participate and take notes
Bring some version (hard copy or digital, NOT ON YOUR PHONE) of the assigned reading
TI-83 or TI-84 series graphing calculator
A laptop (sometimes a tablet will be sufficient, but not always) on Wednesdays
Assessment and Grading
1. Active participation in class activities and contribution to discussions (15%)
The quality of this class (and your learning) depends on your: attendance, close reading of the
assignments, preparation for class, and engagement in and contributions to class activities and
discussion. I will take attendance and keep notes on your participation in class. This is where you
show that you have done the reading or exploration assigned for the week. I expect you to be
engaged the entire 1.5 hours of the course, twice a week. This means that you should not be
checking email or your phone during class time.
I will also ask you to take turns informally demonstrating or teaching mini-lessons with the
technologies that we are investigating. You will not be evaluated based on your pedagogical
skill, just your engagement in trying out new things.
Your regular attendance is expected. Please be on time for class. This means that you are in your
seat and ready to go at 3:00pm. You are responsible for turning in assignments when they are
due and for knowing information announced in class, whether or not you were in class on any
particular day. If you have an extenuating circumstance and you will have to miss class, come
late, or leave early, please let me know as soon as you can. Absences will be excused at the
discretion of the instructor. Please contact me as soon as you anticipate missing class. Each
unexcused absence will result in a 2% reduction of your final grade. Unexcused tardiness or
early departures count as unexcused absences. 3 or more absences may result in no credit for the
course.
2. Weekly reflections (15%)
Most weeks (11) we will have a writing assignment in the form of a reflection. I will pose 1 or 2
questions that focus on in-class experiences, readings, out-of-class explorations, or some
combination of these. Your reflections should be brief ( 300 words), and they should be posted
to the appropriate Topic in the Weekly Reflections forum on NYUClasses as a new thread,
with your name as the title. Occasionally I will ask you to read each others postings and
comment. There will occasionally be some sort of product to submit once youve completed the
explorationa solution, a project file, etc. These will be posted as attachments in your reflection.
Unless otherwise stated, weekly reflections will be due 9am on the date due, so I can read
through before we discuss.
Sometime around April 1 we will visit the Museum of Mathematics ($9 student admission). In
pairs, you will be responsible for thoroughly investigating a digital technology-based exhibit, and
presenting your findings about it in class on Monday, April 6. This will be graded as 2 weekly
reflections.
MTHED-UE 1044/MTHED-GE 2034 (Ma S2015)
(updated 20150125)

3. Lesson design (20%)

Your midterm assignment will be to design a 2-3 day lesson sequence based on a mathematical
big idea. You must choose either Geometers Sketchpad/GeoGebra, Graphing Calculators, or a
combination of the two to support learning in your sequence. You may do this in pairs or
individually. This assignment will be due before class Wednesday, March 11. Optionally, you
may submit a draft of your lesson design before class Wednesday, February 25 for feedback.
4. Narrative Instructional Film (15%)
In groups of 3 or more, you will design, script, and produce a short movie that is both
educational and entertaining, and sets students up for some sort of rich task. The movie should
focus on some mathematical big idea or practice, and contain a narrative plot. You will submit a
film storyboard before class on Monday, March 23. You will post your completed film and
commentary by Wednesday, April 22, before class.
5. Software Investigation (20%)
In teams of 2 or 3, you will choose a piece of mathematical software or hardware that we have
not looked at in class, and conduct a thorough investigation of its usefulness in supporting
student learning in secondary mathematics. A proposal for this assignment will be due
Wednesday, April 1, before class. You will create a web page showcasing the technology, and
submit a brief write-up of your findings before class on Monday, May 4.
6. Web Portfolio (15%)
In place of a final exam, you will put together a web portfolio demonstrating what you have
learned in this course. We will use university provided webspace through http://wp.nyu.edu. The
web portfolio will be due before class on Wednesday, May 13.
Late assignment policy:
Under extenuating circumstances, you may make arrangements for an extension before the due
date. I expect you to propose a new due date and to be accountable to the deadline we negotiate.
Unexcused late assignments will be penalized the equivalent of one letter grade per day.
Grading:
Rubrics for each component are attached at the end of this document, or included in the
assignment handout. Your final grade will be determined by the sum of points accumulated for
each component (participation, weekly assignments, and final project), according to Steinhardt
School of Education Grading Scale.
A

93-100

73-76

A-

90-92

C-

70-72

B+

87-89

D+

65-69

83-86

60-64

B-

80-82

Below 60

C+

77-79

MTHED-UE 1044/MTHED-GE 2034 (Ma S2015)

(updated 20150125)

Other Important Information

Accomodation for NYU Students with Disabilities
Any student attending NYU who needs an accommodation due to a chronic, psychological,
visual, mobility, and/or learning disability, or is Deaf or Hard of Hearing should register with the
Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 212 998-5980, 240 Greene Street. See
www.nyu.edu/csd.
Academic Integrity
The relationship between students and faculty is the keystone of the educational experience in
The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University.
This relationship takes an honor code for granted. Mutual trust, respect and responsibility are
foundational requirements. Thus, how you learn is as important as what you learn. A university
education aims not only to produce high quality scholars, but to also cultivate honorable citizens.
Academic integrity is the guiding principle for all that you do; from taking exams, making oral
presentations to writing term papers. It requires that you recognize and acknowledge information
derived from others, and take credit only for ideas and work that are yours.
You violate the principle of academic integrity when you:
Cheat on an exam;
Submit the same work for two or more different courses without prior permission from your
professors;
Receive help on a take-home examination that calls for independent work;
Plagiarize.
Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in university life, whether intended
or not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars, whose members are teaching, learning and
discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be tolerated. Plagiarism is failure to properly assign
authorship to a paper, a document, an oral presentation, a musical score and/or other materials,
which are not your original work.
You plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following:
Copy verbatim from a book, an article or other media;
Download documents from the Internet;
Purchase documents;
Report from other's oral work;
Paraphrase or restate someone else's facts, analysis and/or conclusions;
Copy directly from a classmate or allow a classmate to copy from you.
For more on academic integrity see http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/policies/academic_integrity.

MTHED-UE 1044/MTHED-GE 2034 (Ma S2015)

(updated 20150125)

Grading Rubrics
1. Active participation in class activities and contribution to discussions (15%)
Participation will be scored each class based on these criteria, then averaged at the end of the
semester.
Exceptional
(15 points)

Excellent
(13 points)

Considerations for scoring

Has made connections

between readings,
assignments and
activities from this and
prior weeks;
Participation elevates
the tone of class and
learning of all students.

Has clearly read

assignments carefully
and thought deeply
about them; Participated
in class activities and
contributed
substantively to
discussion.

* Promptness to class
* Preparation for class, including closeness
of reading
* Active participation in class activities
* Quantity and quality of contributions to
class discussion

2. Weekly reflections (15%)

The weekly reflections (including MoMath presentation) will be graded on a scale of 0-3 points
for each assignment. Unless otherwise stated, the grading of an assignment will be done
according to the following rubric. At the end of the semester reflection grades will be averaged
and scaled so that 2 represents 100%. Extra percentage points earned will be considered extra
credit.
Exceptional
(3 points)
All parts were completed
thoroughly and
thoughtfully, following the
guidelines. Made
connections to readings,
assignments, and/or course
experiences.

Excellent
(2) points
All parts of the
assignment were
completed well,
following the guidelines.

Considerations for scoring

* Completion of all parts of the
assignment
* Adherence to assignment
guidelines
* Work makes sense or is well
justified with evidence
* Work shows effort and original or
creative thinking

3. Lesson design (20%); Software investigation (20%); Narrative Instructional Film (15%);
Web Portfolio (15%)
The four major assignments will be graded with rubrics similar to the one for weekly reflections.
The detailed assignment handouts will indicate other considerations in scoring.

MTHED-UE 1044/MTHED-GE 2034 (Ma S2015)

(updated 20150125)