Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

The MLC materials are intended for long-term professional development. The primary focus of this set of materials is to develop teachers' content knowledge through examining students' work in professional learning communities. The Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP), the secondary focus of the MLC materials, are addressed within the context of the content (i.e., what practices might students be using while working on a particular problem or the content piece). The materials do include alignment between facilitator notes and standards of mathematical content and The SMP (i.e., which content standards and which math practices are connected to content within the student work portion).

This professional development (PD) may be used by teachers individually or in grade-level teams. There are two modules provided for each of the grade bands 3–5, 6–8, and high school. The primary focus of the Classroom Connections PD is The Standards for Math Practice (SMP) but the content standards are discussed as well.

Multiple SMPs and mathematical content standards are evident within any single piece of student work, and the intersection of both of these are made explicit in the materials (i.e., a teacher would see where both important math content and important student actions interplay as students work on solving problems).

This set of materials shows the progression of fractions from grade 3 through grade 5 in the 2011 MA Framework for Mathematics. It includes a PowerPoint with hands-on activities, facilitator notes, rich math tasks, examples of the variety of visual models incorporated in the fractions standards and suggestions for customizing the presentation to different audiences.