— With program support provided by Math for America

Making Mathematical Connections

The Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI) of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, offers comprehensive professional development for mathematicians and teachers of mathematics, as well as programs for students aspiring to a career in mathematics.

The Secondary School Teachers Program (SSTP) Summer Session is a 3-week residential program in Park City, Utah, and is part of the larger PCMI program.  The SSTP is for both high school and middle school teachers of mathematics. Teachers are given full support and a stipend during the Summer Session. In addition, 6 quarter-credits of 400-level mathematics are available from the University of Washington for a modest fee.

The SSTP is structured around three goals:

All teachers should be involved in

• continuing to learn and do mathematics
• analyzing and refining classroom practice
• becoming resources to colleagues and the profession.

Each of these goals is reflected in the three strands that comprise the summer courses and activities.

1. Developing Mathematics (2 hours per day, 5 days per week) This course will investigate questions like these:
   • “Over and Over“ —  Pick a positive number, take the reciprocal and add 1.  Then take the reciprocal of that and add 1.  Then again, and again, until…     Many mathematical problems can be explored and solved through the study of iteration.  This   course will explore how  iterative processes can be used to investigate  Fibonacci numbers, image processing, the calculation of square roots, and more.  No specific mathematical prerequisites are necessary,  but by the end of three weeks, participants will have a useful toolkit of techniques that can be applied to many different areas.
2. Reflecting on practice: Connections to Research (75 minutes per day, 5 days per week, plus opportunities for informal sessions in late afternoon and evenings.)  Participants will consider research related to teaching and learning mathematics with a particular focus on student thinking and how it can be used to shape instruction. The discussion will be grounded in the study of discourse in lessons and classroom practice in both the United States and other countries. Participants will work collaboratively to consider different approaches to managing discussions that better enable students to learn mathematics.
3. Working Groups (2 hours, 4 days a week)  As part of their summer activities, each participant selected for the 2010 Secondary School Teacher Summer Program will be assigned to a small subject-specific working group, which prepares a first draft of an activity, lesson, reflection on a piece of mathematics or another product useful for the secondary classroom that can be shared with other teachers.The working groups are:
   • Reasoning from Data and Chance
   • Exploring Discrete Mathematics
   • Investigating Geometry
   • Learning from Teaching
   • Implementing Lesson Study
   • Visualizing Functions
   • Learning the Mathematics of Image Processing

   Note that these topics may change before the Summer Session. All participants will be consulted and notified of their working group assignments prior to the Institute.

   Each Working Group is composed of a small group of teacher participants and a resource person. The group works together to research existing classroom materials and techniques, technologies, and other materials related to the topic, for dissemination and eventual publication by PCMI. The focus of the work should be on:

   • creating and elaborating meaningful tasks
   • designing activities to extend content knowledge
   • illustrating the use of technology as a way to enhance learning and teaching

   Applicants should rank their first, second, and third choice of Working Group on the application form. After applicants are accepted and named to a Working Group, some preparation in the form of reading or materials review may be suggested by working group leaders.

Click here for a more in-depth description of each working group.

Click here for information & for PDO Groups currently active.

Click here for Alumni Groups.

Click here for Affiliated Programs.